I've been through all the ups and downs of poker. I just thought i'd share some things with some of the beginners to help them not make mistakes early on. We all make mistakes starting out and I was making the same mistakes over and over and for far too long. These were some of the things I needed to work on to improve my game. Without these things you will not win, there are no exceptions.
1. Bankroll managment. This is by far one of beginners biggest mistakes. Without proper managment you will always go bust. It doesn't matter how good you are, if your roll cannot handle variance you will go broke. In the back of our minds we always know this is true, but some of us for some reason just feel that we would get lucky and build this incredible roll quickly. There may be times when you go on great runs underolled but no matter how big your roll is when you play out of it you will lose it eventually.
2. Patience. Poker is not a 'get rich quick' scheme, its a grind. You play day after day making correct decisons and +EV plays. As long as you are able to do this you will be making money. It may not be at the rate you wish but when you start at low limits you must make a little money before you can make alot.
3. Pride. We must all swallow lots of pride and be honest with ourselves. Many have the potential to be good players but you need to understand that your status as a player is not determined by how much money you have in your roll or the stakes you are playing. It is so much better to be a good player with a $650 roll playing 25NL, than being a player w/ great potential that loses his roll every couple months because he is playing at stakes he is not rolled for. You are never as good as you think you are.
4. Trusting reads. You will eventually learn (or you should strive to) have the ability to read players both live play through tells and online though betting patterns. Many times when we play we will completely dismiss reads because 'they could be bluffing'. Most of the time this happens when you are holding an overpair to the board and know you should lay it down but don't. These are the plays that save you money. What is the point of putting people on hands and making reads if you don't trust them?
5. Tilt. This is something that must be controlled in order to be successful. This also is a big reason for poor bankroll managment. Too many times when we are on tilt, instead of quitting for the day or taking a break, we try to play through it and get money back that we've lost. You have to know when to stop and every sesssion you play, you must be playing your best. You cannot do this on tilt.
6. Tight/preflop. Start out playing tight, especially preflop. There is no need to be an 'action junky'. Sometimes we feel the need to be in pots to be having fun. I don't care how cold the cards are or how long you've been folding, if you goal is to make money then keep folding the trash because poker is always more fun when you are winning.
7. Discipline. You must have discipline (and just plain common sense) to follow proper bankroll managment, and to play tigher preflop. Have a strategy and stick to it every time you play poker. If you are not going to be playing your Best Poker then you should not be playing. Sometimes we also play when we shouldn't (like when we're tired, etc.) Or try to sneak in a quick session for like 15-20 minutes. You will not be playing your best when you do this and I suggest to avoid playing under unfavorable conditions.
8. Blind play. You need to work on your play from the blinds. Alot of people don't know how much money they are losing when they limp in from the SB b/c its cheap. Too many times we get top pair w/ a weak kicker from the BB and don't get away from the hand when we should. We defend blinds too weak when we shouldn't. I suggest getting some sort of tracking software to see how your blind play measures up.
9. Keeping records. How can you ever know what to work on in you game if you don't keep good records? Track your play. When you are running bad you can see why. It could be a bad run of cards or you may have some unplugged leaks in your game. Sometimes if you are making money at a certain level you could be making significantly more if you knew what your problems were. Check out Poker Tracker.
10. Importance of poker. Poker is important to us and its a part of our lives but Poker is never as important as life. Sometimes poker dictates how our days go. If we have a bad session, then we have a bad day. You can't let poker influence you this way. When you come to play poker all feelings will stay at the table. Try to not get too high with the highs or too low with the lows. This doesn't mean you don't get excited or disappointed at results but know that one hand/session whatever is just a micro portion of your poker career.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Sunday, February 11, 2007
The Beginner's Guide to Online Poker part3
Welcome to the third and final part of the new player guide. This section is a collection of essays written by myself (Toasty!) which should hopefully bring your game together enough to put you on the right track.
The essays are:
TILT - The Poker Demon
Sit 'N' Go's (SNGs)
Limit Holdem
TILT - The Poker Demon
As I've stated before, one of the most important skills needed to be successful in poker is discipline. Without it, sooner or later you're going broke, it's that simple. Perfect discipline is playing every hand in every given situation correctly and always aiming to put your money in with "the best of it" (i.e. as a favourite to win).
But just because you are putting your money in as a favourite doesn't always mean you will win, if you rolled a dice and won on a roll of 1-5 but lost on a 6 you wouldn't be too amazed if a 6 rolled as you know the dice sometimes rolls a 6. It amazes me how some people react online when they have AA beaten by a far inferior hand, they act like it’s a statistical improbability and the site is fixed. Personally my AA wins the pot around 70%-80% of the time, it hurts when it loses but most of the time I don't even blink at the bad beat (bad beat = losing as a big favourite).
Now you know that AA losing isn't uncommon but quite the opposite (I consider 1 in 5 times to be common) what about AA losing the last 3 times you have it or 5 times etc. This is less common but isn't rare, if something’s statistically probable to happen it probably will happen. For instance QQ (which isn't as strong as AA but is still a powerful hand) finished a months play down (I would have been better off that particular month folding QQ PF every time I was dealt it) after being dealt the hand 28 times. KK was also a losing hand half way through the month but recovered towards the end. Although it's frustrating, its all part of the swings. If AA wins roughly 75% of the time, you could lose 5 straight and win the next 15 straight.
Although this is only the basics on swings I want you to understand that favourite hands do not always win and it's important to get used to bad beats as they happen more often than you think. People rarely keep track of how often AA wins but once it loses they soon notice. Bad beats are also a good sign of a good table; people are willing to gamble against you with the worst of it (matching your bets with a lower chance of winning).
If you fail to take bad beats eventually you are going to hit TILT. TILT is basically your emotions playing poker for you as opposed to your head. "How the hell could he call with 72o?!", "Grrrr, that's twice AA has lost in the last hour!". Before long you will be playing more hands as your patience disappears and raising weak hands due to frustration leading in turn to more bluffs. Once people spot you're on TILT it won't take them long to start calling those raises with better hands and calling your bluffs with weak hands which will only increase your TILT. People will even start berating players who deal them bad beats to the point of even educating them on how many outs they had and how they shouldn't have called???? This is just plain madness!! Going back to the dice example, if you had a someone who was willing to play you at dice - a 1-5 lands you win $1, a 6 rolls they win $1. You wouldn't berate them and explain how they only have a 1/6 chance of winning when they rolled a 6 against you. If anything you would congratulate them "Nice Roll, you can sure roll those sixes" knowing that you are going to win 5$ for each $1 you lose over time. Receiving bad beats is exactly the same thing, although it hurts and can sometimes even be devastating, it's a good thing. Do you want people to only call you when they are the favourite to win?
With the main cause of TILT covered the second one is also important chasing losses (or even chasing wins). That is you find yourself down x amount and you are "trying to win your money back". This is also described as being "stuck" - the obvious reason because you won't move until you have made it back. ie - "He's stuck for $200". You can also chase your losses "I just want to get back up to x amount" when you have had a good win and lost some if it. It can be very hard not to think in these terms but you will have to overcome them to succeed in poker. Chasing your losses can lead to jumps in stakes where two things will happen:
1 - You will lose at a higher rate (which you can't afford to lose at) Or
2 - You will win which will weaken your discipline for the future and leave you with the wrong strategic impression. There is no room for progressive betting within Holdem Poker using the higher stakes to recoup losses. This is worse for your long term development.
Once you start thinking more about the long term rather than individual sessions, you will be a step closer to being a successful poker player. You will make your poker career/hobby very difficult for yourself if you overly concentrate on short term results. You can play a losing session perfect and play a winning session poorly.
If you sense TILT coming on take a break and return once you have calmed down, no one expects you to be a robot, taking bad beats hand after hand is going to effect you emotionally, make a drink (non-alcoholic) to relax for a few minutes. You can also introduce stop limits to reduce your day to day variance (please note this makes absolutely no effect to long-term win rates but can help you avoid getting stuck). For instance if you win or lose $50 you stop playing for that day or session. The only benefit from this method is avoiding hitting TILT when you lose x amount and start chasing your losses.
That's it for TILT even knowing all this you will still have TILT and sometimes lose due to TILT but you must recognise it and manage it. I currently have a high TILT tolerance, but I'm not immune and occasionally decide to stop playing until I'm in the right mind-set.
Sit n' Go's or SnG's
These one table tournaments can be an excellent and safe way to build your bankroll, the players at the lower limits are very weak and consistent tight play is usually all that is needed for an ITM finish (ITM=In the money). You're strategy needs to change slightly from your cash games strategy as you can't reload once your chips have gone. There is lots of great advice in the (INSERT LINK TO FORUMS) forums concerning how to play these and I won't go into great deal on how to play them. I'll just explain a few pros and cons about them.
Pros:
Once you have managed to become a winning player at these the variance is very low and you should be able to make a steady profit without any wild swings to your bankroll.
You can begin building experience that will come in handy later when you start playing the bigger Multi-Table Tournaments
There are currently no books available on single table tournaments so unless the other players are active in poker forums you can have a big advantage over them due to your superior strategy.
In my opinion, easier to beat than cash games.
Cons:
The bad beats hurt a lot more in tournaments, especially if you are eliminated with one.
You can play for up to an hour, only to get eliminated by a single bad beat. On some poker sites the later stages of the tournament can turn into a crapshoot - that is whoever gets dealt the best hand wins as the blinds are so high you have to play almost any hand.
Limit Holdem
Some people call this a game for "old men with no balls", but I prefer the saying that "No-Limit Holdem is an Art and Limit Holdem is a science". In Limit holdem there is usually always a right move to make as bluffing is extremely hard due to the bets being limited.
This means 99% of the time the best hand wins, it also means that a lot of people will stay to the river card (especially at the low limits) and this is where the other saying "No Foldem Holdem" comes from. This can also increase your bad beats, due to so many people staying in hoping for and hitting miracle cards and at the same time when your hand does stand up (doesn't get outdrawn) you will win a big pot. The variance can be quite big in Limit and it's widely accepted that you need at least 300BBs.
If you choose to play Limit Vs No Limit I would strongly advise you buy and read Lee Jones "Winning Low Limit Holdem" before you start to play and keep re-reading until you know the book inside out. It is a great book on how to beat low limit holdem.
Limit Holdem is a very analytical game if you find no-limit holdem isn't your game and prefer your decisions to be more precise maybe Limit is for you.
The essays are:
TILT - The Poker Demon
Sit 'N' Go's (SNGs)
Limit Holdem
TILT - The Poker Demon
As I've stated before, one of the most important skills needed to be successful in poker is discipline. Without it, sooner or later you're going broke, it's that simple. Perfect discipline is playing every hand in every given situation correctly and always aiming to put your money in with "the best of it" (i.e. as a favourite to win).
But just because you are putting your money in as a favourite doesn't always mean you will win, if you rolled a dice and won on a roll of 1-5 but lost on a 6 you wouldn't be too amazed if a 6 rolled as you know the dice sometimes rolls a 6. It amazes me how some people react online when they have AA beaten by a far inferior hand, they act like it’s a statistical improbability and the site is fixed. Personally my AA wins the pot around 70%-80% of the time, it hurts when it loses but most of the time I don't even blink at the bad beat (bad beat = losing as a big favourite).
Now you know that AA losing isn't uncommon but quite the opposite (I consider 1 in 5 times to be common) what about AA losing the last 3 times you have it or 5 times etc. This is less common but isn't rare, if something’s statistically probable to happen it probably will happen. For instance QQ (which isn't as strong as AA but is still a powerful hand) finished a months play down (I would have been better off that particular month folding QQ PF every time I was dealt it) after being dealt the hand 28 times. KK was also a losing hand half way through the month but recovered towards the end. Although it's frustrating, its all part of the swings. If AA wins roughly 75% of the time, you could lose 5 straight and win the next 15 straight.
Although this is only the basics on swings I want you to understand that favourite hands do not always win and it's important to get used to bad beats as they happen more often than you think. People rarely keep track of how often AA wins but once it loses they soon notice. Bad beats are also a good sign of a good table; people are willing to gamble against you with the worst of it (matching your bets with a lower chance of winning).
If you fail to take bad beats eventually you are going to hit TILT. TILT is basically your emotions playing poker for you as opposed to your head. "How the hell could he call with 72o?!", "Grrrr, that's twice AA has lost in the last hour!". Before long you will be playing more hands as your patience disappears and raising weak hands due to frustration leading in turn to more bluffs. Once people spot you're on TILT it won't take them long to start calling those raises with better hands and calling your bluffs with weak hands which will only increase your TILT. People will even start berating players who deal them bad beats to the point of even educating them on how many outs they had and how they shouldn't have called???? This is just plain madness!! Going back to the dice example, if you had a someone who was willing to play you at dice - a 1-5 lands you win $1, a 6 rolls they win $1. You wouldn't berate them and explain how they only have a 1/6 chance of winning when they rolled a 6 against you. If anything you would congratulate them "Nice Roll, you can sure roll those sixes" knowing that you are going to win 5$ for each $1 you lose over time. Receiving bad beats is exactly the same thing, although it hurts and can sometimes even be devastating, it's a good thing. Do you want people to only call you when they are the favourite to win?
With the main cause of TILT covered the second one is also important chasing losses (or even chasing wins). That is you find yourself down x amount and you are "trying to win your money back". This is also described as being "stuck" - the obvious reason because you won't move until you have made it back. ie - "He's stuck for $200". You can also chase your losses "I just want to get back up to x amount" when you have had a good win and lost some if it. It can be very hard not to think in these terms but you will have to overcome them to succeed in poker. Chasing your losses can lead to jumps in stakes where two things will happen:
1 - You will lose at a higher rate (which you can't afford to lose at) Or
2 - You will win which will weaken your discipline for the future and leave you with the wrong strategic impression. There is no room for progressive betting within Holdem Poker using the higher stakes to recoup losses. This is worse for your long term development.
Once you start thinking more about the long term rather than individual sessions, you will be a step closer to being a successful poker player. You will make your poker career/hobby very difficult for yourself if you overly concentrate on short term results. You can play a losing session perfect and play a winning session poorly.
If you sense TILT coming on take a break and return once you have calmed down, no one expects you to be a robot, taking bad beats hand after hand is going to effect you emotionally, make a drink (non-alcoholic) to relax for a few minutes. You can also introduce stop limits to reduce your day to day variance (please note this makes absolutely no effect to long-term win rates but can help you avoid getting stuck). For instance if you win or lose $50 you stop playing for that day or session. The only benefit from this method is avoiding hitting TILT when you lose x amount and start chasing your losses.
That's it for TILT even knowing all this you will still have TILT and sometimes lose due to TILT but you must recognise it and manage it. I currently have a high TILT tolerance, but I'm not immune and occasionally decide to stop playing until I'm in the right mind-set.
Sit n' Go's or SnG's
These one table tournaments can be an excellent and safe way to build your bankroll, the players at the lower limits are very weak and consistent tight play is usually all that is needed for an ITM finish (ITM=In the money). You're strategy needs to change slightly from your cash games strategy as you can't reload once your chips have gone. There is lots of great advice in the (INSERT LINK TO FORUMS) forums concerning how to play these and I won't go into great deal on how to play them. I'll just explain a few pros and cons about them.
Pros:
Once you have managed to become a winning player at these the variance is very low and you should be able to make a steady profit without any wild swings to your bankroll.
You can begin building experience that will come in handy later when you start playing the bigger Multi-Table Tournaments
There are currently no books available on single table tournaments so unless the other players are active in poker forums you can have a big advantage over them due to your superior strategy.
In my opinion, easier to beat than cash games.
Cons:
The bad beats hurt a lot more in tournaments, especially if you are eliminated with one.
You can play for up to an hour, only to get eliminated by a single bad beat. On some poker sites the later stages of the tournament can turn into a crapshoot - that is whoever gets dealt the best hand wins as the blinds are so high you have to play almost any hand.
Limit Holdem
Some people call this a game for "old men with no balls", but I prefer the saying that "No-Limit Holdem is an Art and Limit Holdem is a science". In Limit holdem there is usually always a right move to make as bluffing is extremely hard due to the bets being limited.
This means 99% of the time the best hand wins, it also means that a lot of people will stay to the river card (especially at the low limits) and this is where the other saying "No Foldem Holdem" comes from. This can also increase your bad beats, due to so many people staying in hoping for and hitting miracle cards and at the same time when your hand does stand up (doesn't get outdrawn) you will win a big pot. The variance can be quite big in Limit and it's widely accepted that you need at least 300BBs.
If you choose to play Limit Vs No Limit I would strongly advise you buy and read Lee Jones "Winning Low Limit Holdem" before you start to play and keep re-reading until you know the book inside out. It is a great book on how to beat low limit holdem.
Limit Holdem is a very analytical game if you find no-limit holdem isn't your game and prefer your decisions to be more precise maybe Limit is for you.
The Beginner's Guide to Online Poker: Getting Started Part2
First things first, try to save the details of every single hand you play. Almost all of the poker sites give the option of emailing you hand histories. These give all the details of hands you have played from stack sizes to position. If you don’t keep these you will never be able to tell what hands you are winning with and what hands you are losing with.
1. Slowly Losing Money
If this is the case, it’s time to take a good look at your game for leaks. Leaks are a weakness in your game that could be costing you a few bucks here and there that you don’t even know about. I’ll list a few here that you can check using the re-player and forum I mentioned above.
Calling too much in the Small Blind - A trash hand is still a trash hand. Although it’s cheap to see what could be a miracle flop, at best you are going to make a weak pair that is only going to cost you money in the long run. Once you have built up your experience, you will know when you can go for plays like this and also know when that weak pair is good/bad.
Over protecting your Big Blind - “I’m already half in right?”. Wrong!, once that money is in the pot, it’s no longer your money. Similar problems arise as “calling too much in the small blind”. With both these situations, you are also going to be out of position for the rest of the round (one of the first to act).
Not raising enough pre-flop - When you are losing money, the tendency is to play weak with regards to raising. You don’t want to put money in until you know you have the best hand. Sounds good, but this will only cost you more money. The fact is pre-flop there is a good chance you already have the best hand! For example you hold AKo, rather than make a decent size raise you decide to call and see if you hit the flop first. Well Mr Axs gets to come in for cheap and while you make an Ace on the flop for TPTK (top pair top kicker), he makes 2 pair or picks up a flush draw to bust you with later. If you had raised you might have forced him to fold pre-flop.
Inability to get away from a hand - If you have QQ, and the board has AK3 - and it’s a multi-way pot (more than 2 people) and there is action, it doesn’t matter that you have a pair of Queens, it's time to move out of the way. As you build experience you will get to know when your strong hands are no good and when your weak hands are the best. Until then, examine your play and post hands in the forum you are unsure about.
Under betting your good hands - You can’t win every hand, to make money is simple, win more money than the cost of the blinds and your losing hands. You might be losing the minimum on your losing hands, but winning the maximum on your winning hands. The two most common problems are:
1. Over betting – if you flop a full house don’t push all in, most of the time every will fold and you will win a small pot. Occasionally someone will think you are bluffing and call but why win a small pot with a very strong hand.
2. Under betting – You make two pair and rather than make a pot sized bet (a bet equal to the current amount of money in the pot), you make a weak bet and people call along to outdraw you for cheap, or you discover someone made 2nd best hand and would have been willing to pay more to see a showdown.
Invest in PokerTracker! - Poker Tracker is a software program that you use to analyze your poker game and help identify the leaks you have. You load your hand histories into Poker Tracker, and then analyze your statistics. Not only can you learn about your own game, Poker Tracker allows you to analyze your opponents' games, for those whom you have hand histories for. Read more about Poker Tracker here.
These are just some suggestions, there are many more types of leaks. With experience, you will be able to spot them quicker and for every leak fixed is extra $$ in your pocket. These are just a few, but there are many more types of leaks. With experience, you will be able to spot them quicker and for every leak fixed is extra $$ in your pocket.
1. Slowly Losing Money
If this is the case, it’s time to take a good look at your game for leaks. Leaks are a weakness in your game that could be costing you a few bucks here and there that you don’t even know about. I’ll list a few here that you can check using the re-player and forum I mentioned above.
Calling too much in the Small Blind - A trash hand is still a trash hand. Although it’s cheap to see what could be a miracle flop, at best you are going to make a weak pair that is only going to cost you money in the long run. Once you have built up your experience, you will know when you can go for plays like this and also know when that weak pair is good/bad.
Over protecting your Big Blind - “I’m already half in right?”. Wrong!, once that money is in the pot, it’s no longer your money. Similar problems arise as “calling too much in the small blind”. With both these situations, you are also going to be out of position for the rest of the round (one of the first to act).
Not raising enough pre-flop - When you are losing money, the tendency is to play weak with regards to raising. You don’t want to put money in until you know you have the best hand. Sounds good, but this will only cost you more money. The fact is pre-flop there is a good chance you already have the best hand! For example you hold AKo, rather than make a decent size raise you decide to call and see if you hit the flop first. Well Mr Axs gets to come in for cheap and while you make an Ace on the flop for TPTK (top pair top kicker), he makes 2 pair or picks up a flush draw to bust you with later. If you had raised you might have forced him to fold pre-flop.
Inability to get away from a hand - If you have QQ, and the board has AK3 - and it’s a multi-way pot (more than 2 people) and there is action, it doesn’t matter that you have a pair of Queens, it's time to move out of the way. As you build experience you will get to know when your strong hands are no good and when your weak hands are the best. Until then, examine your play and post hands in the forum you are unsure about.
Under betting your good hands - You can’t win every hand, to make money is simple, win more money than the cost of the blinds and your losing hands. You might be losing the minimum on your losing hands, but winning the maximum on your winning hands. The two most common problems are:
1. Over betting – if you flop a full house don’t push all in, most of the time every will fold and you will win a small pot. Occasionally someone will think you are bluffing and call but why win a small pot with a very strong hand.
2. Under betting – You make two pair and rather than make a pot sized bet (a bet equal to the current amount of money in the pot), you make a weak bet and people call along to outdraw you for cheap, or you discover someone made 2nd best hand and would have been willing to pay more to see a showdown.
Invest in PokerTracker! - Poker Tracker is a software program that you use to analyze your poker game and help identify the leaks you have. You load your hand histories into Poker Tracker, and then analyze your statistics. Not only can you learn about your own game, Poker Tracker allows you to analyze your opponents' games, for those whom you have hand histories for. Read more about Poker Tracker here.
These are just some suggestions, there are many more types of leaks. With experience, you will be able to spot them quicker and for every leak fixed is extra $$ in your pocket. These are just a few, but there are many more types of leaks. With experience, you will be able to spot them quicker and for every leak fixed is extra $$ in your pocket.
The Beginner's Guide to Online Poker: Getting Started Part1
So, you've decided to play for real money online and make some easy money.
If you have never played for real money before, don’t make the mistakes almost all new players make when they begin playing for real money. They are:
Finish watching the WPT, make a deposit online, and jump straight into a NL ring game. Two things will happen if you do:
One - You will lose money right from the get go. Or, two, Which is worse, you will get lucky and make a lot of money, become over-confident, and then lose it all.
Number Two is a bigger problem than number One, as the new player will be on a good run moving quickly up though the limits getting luckier and luckier. It’s not unheard of to hear a player going from a $50 deposit to $3000 in just a few days from over-risking their bankroll. This gives him the illusion that he is a great player who has some natural skill to the game, and when they go bust they think they must have gotten unlucky. The reality is, of course, that their luck ran out. This is where one of two things can happen - they do some research and realize they were very foolish, or re-deposit under the illusion of greatness and lose more money.
Another problem for new players happns to those who have played a few years at B&M (Brick and Mortar) casinos. They have usually never read a poker book, have probably broke even, or had equally good nights and bad nights at the casinos.
They approach online poker feeling superior “heh, I’ve played in live games, these Internet chumps won’t know what hit them”. The reality is that the competition is actually tougher online, with many of the experts agreeing that the 0.5/1 2/4 5/10 limit games play like the live 2/4 5/10 20/40 games. They jump straight in with as little as 100BBs (Big Bets i.e. at 2/4 Limit $400=100BBs) and proceed to go broke.
This is when you hear players complain about fixed sites and strange flops. Online games run a lot faster than their real life counter parts. Being dealt around 80 hands per hour and playing 2 tables at once can equate to playing 4 live hours in a casino. Also they fail to realize that they are usually playing looser than if they were playing in a live game - it’s easier to click call than it is to say “Call” and showdown a hand that would cause embarrassment. Online games for the most part are also very aggressive compared to live games and a different approach is usually needed.
If you have never played for real money before, don’t make the mistakes almost all new players make when they begin playing for real money. They are:
Finish watching the WPT, make a deposit online, and jump straight into a NL ring game. Two things will happen if you do:
One - You will lose money right from the get go. Or, two, Which is worse, you will get lucky and make a lot of money, become over-confident, and then lose it all.
Number Two is a bigger problem than number One, as the new player will be on a good run moving quickly up though the limits getting luckier and luckier. It’s not unheard of to hear a player going from a $50 deposit to $3000 in just a few days from over-risking their bankroll. This gives him the illusion that he is a great player who has some natural skill to the game, and when they go bust they think they must have gotten unlucky. The reality is, of course, that their luck ran out. This is where one of two things can happen - they do some research and realize they were very foolish, or re-deposit under the illusion of greatness and lose more money.
Another problem for new players happns to those who have played a few years at B&M (Brick and Mortar) casinos. They have usually never read a poker book, have probably broke even, or had equally good nights and bad nights at the casinos.
They approach online poker feeling superior “heh, I’ve played in live games, these Internet chumps won’t know what hit them”. The reality is that the competition is actually tougher online, with many of the experts agreeing that the 0.5/1 2/4 5/10 limit games play like the live 2/4 5/10 20/40 games. They jump straight in with as little as 100BBs (Big Bets i.e. at 2/4 Limit $400=100BBs) and proceed to go broke.
This is when you hear players complain about fixed sites and strange flops. Online games run a lot faster than their real life counter parts. Being dealt around 80 hands per hour and playing 2 tables at once can equate to playing 4 live hours in a casino. Also they fail to realize that they are usually playing looser than if they were playing in a live game - it’s easier to click call than it is to say “Call” and showdown a hand that would cause embarrassment. Online games for the most part are also very aggressive compared to live games and a different approach is usually needed.
Rules for Table Selection:
There are many things you can do to increase your poker skill; you should do them. However, it is unlikely that you will do anything between now and your next poker session that will dramatically increase your skill. Reading the right books, studying some articles, reviewing your play will help you; but, barring an epiphany, when you sit down this evening to play poker, you will likely be about the same skill level that you are right now.
But there is a way of improving your chance of winning on your very next online session; regardless of your current poker skill.
You can achieve this amazing result through 'table selection'. Table selection is the practice of being choosy about what tables you play and about where you sit at those tables. Regardless of your poker skill, you can increase your chance of winning through proper table selection.
Rule #1 for Table Selection
Play at tables where the other players are worse than you are. It may sound trite, but it is true regardless of your skill level. You win more often when the people at the table do not play poker as well as you do. The 100th most skilled ring poker player in the world is certainly damn good. But if he sits down at a table with numbers 1 through 9 he is likely in for a bad afternoon. Conversely, a mediocre player is likely to have a pretty good day if he sits a table of people who can not play anywhere near his level.
Things that will help you do this:
1) Play within your bankroll. See all the articles on bankroll management.
2) Regardless of your starting bankroll, do not start higher than the 0.10/0.25 NL tables if you are new to poker.
3) Keep general notes on other players. Avoid sitting at tables with players that have confounded you in the past. Try to sit at tables with players that you have previously noted are worse than you. They are worse than you when you understand what their actions mean. Regardless of your Absolute Poker skill, when you reach the point that you are certain what another player's actions mean, you are better than they are. You want to play against these people.
Rule #2 for Table Selection
Take a seat where the players to your right have money. Money tends to flow clockwise in Texas Hold'em (which is to say that it tends to flow from the earlier positions to the later positions.) for now, accept this principle. You want to pick a seat where you will typically have position on players that have money. Because that money will tend to flow your way.
Rule #3 for Table Selection
Take a seat where the players to your right bet and raise a lot of losing hands (loose). Not only do you want them to have money (rule 2), you want them to be willing to lose it to you.
Rule #4 for Table Selection
Take a seat where the players to your left have very little money. Position, acting after other players, is very important in Texas Hold'em. Again, for now, accept this principle. At a ten man table, you will be the last to act 10% of the time (being the Dealer, or the Button). Imagine playing at a table where the player to your left has 1 penny. Granted, he acts after you do. But his actions are trivial to you because he can only bring one penny into play. He cannot chase you out of a pot with a big bet. You would not mind calling his meaningless All-In, even if you had a speculative hand. At that table, you are effectively last to act when HE is the dealer because no one cares what he does. Sitting with a tiny stack to your left (or better yet two tiny stacks) makes you the last to act 20-30% of the time, instead of everyone elses 10%. There is another great thing about having small stacks to your left. We said above that money tends to flow to the players that have position. The players to your left have position on you but they have no money to bet. On any given hand, they can only get as much money from you as they have in their stack. As they have small stacks, not much of your money will be flowing to them because they cannot make you put a lot of money in the pot, even when they have an outstanding hand and you have a great one that is 2nd best.
Rule #5 for Table Selection
Take a seat where the players to your left will only bet or raise when they have VERY good hands (tight). As mentioned above, position is important. You typically get to see the actions of the people to your right (you have position on them.) But you have to guess what the players to your left are going to do after you act (they have position on you.) By sitting with tight players to your left, you know what they are going to do. They are going to fold unless they have a VERY good hand. If you bet and they raise, then you are likely beat; put no more money in the pot.
Rule #6 for Table Selection
If, while sitting at a table, you discover that it is not the kind of table you want to be at, get up and leave. This may seem trite, but it is one of the primary reasons people lose money at a poker table. They just will not leave the table, even after they realize the table is not right for them. You are not in competition with the table! You are trying to make money playing poker! Perhaps you followed the guidelines above. But 30 minutes later you notice that the players to your right now have very little money, the players to the left now have much larger stacks than you, and that guy that always seems to know what cards you have just sat down to your left (he has position on you.) Leave the table. Leave now. Go. There are scads of other tables. Find a better one.
But there is a way of improving your chance of winning on your very next online session; regardless of your current poker skill.
You can achieve this amazing result through 'table selection'. Table selection is the practice of being choosy about what tables you play and about where you sit at those tables. Regardless of your poker skill, you can increase your chance of winning through proper table selection.
Rule #1 for Table Selection
Play at tables where the other players are worse than you are. It may sound trite, but it is true regardless of your skill level. You win more often when the people at the table do not play poker as well as you do. The 100th most skilled ring poker player in the world is certainly damn good. But if he sits down at a table with numbers 1 through 9 he is likely in for a bad afternoon. Conversely, a mediocre player is likely to have a pretty good day if he sits a table of people who can not play anywhere near his level.
Things that will help you do this:
1) Play within your bankroll. See all the articles on bankroll management.
2) Regardless of your starting bankroll, do not start higher than the 0.10/0.25 NL tables if you are new to poker.
3) Keep general notes on other players. Avoid sitting at tables with players that have confounded you in the past. Try to sit at tables with players that you have previously noted are worse than you. They are worse than you when you understand what their actions mean. Regardless of your Absolute Poker skill, when you reach the point that you are certain what another player's actions mean, you are better than they are. You want to play against these people.
Rule #2 for Table Selection
Take a seat where the players to your right have money. Money tends to flow clockwise in Texas Hold'em (which is to say that it tends to flow from the earlier positions to the later positions.) for now, accept this principle. You want to pick a seat where you will typically have position on players that have money. Because that money will tend to flow your way.
Rule #3 for Table Selection
Take a seat where the players to your right bet and raise a lot of losing hands (loose). Not only do you want them to have money (rule 2), you want them to be willing to lose it to you.
Rule #4 for Table Selection
Take a seat where the players to your left have very little money. Position, acting after other players, is very important in Texas Hold'em. Again, for now, accept this principle. At a ten man table, you will be the last to act 10% of the time (being the Dealer, or the Button). Imagine playing at a table where the player to your left has 1 penny. Granted, he acts after you do. But his actions are trivial to you because he can only bring one penny into play. He cannot chase you out of a pot with a big bet. You would not mind calling his meaningless All-In, even if you had a speculative hand. At that table, you are effectively last to act when HE is the dealer because no one cares what he does. Sitting with a tiny stack to your left (or better yet two tiny stacks) makes you the last to act 20-30% of the time, instead of everyone elses 10%. There is another great thing about having small stacks to your left. We said above that money tends to flow to the players that have position. The players to your left have position on you but they have no money to bet. On any given hand, they can only get as much money from you as they have in their stack. As they have small stacks, not much of your money will be flowing to them because they cannot make you put a lot of money in the pot, even when they have an outstanding hand and you have a great one that is 2nd best.
Rule #5 for Table Selection
Take a seat where the players to your left will only bet or raise when they have VERY good hands (tight). As mentioned above, position is important. You typically get to see the actions of the people to your right (you have position on them.) But you have to guess what the players to your left are going to do after you act (they have position on you.) By sitting with tight players to your left, you know what they are going to do. They are going to fold unless they have a VERY good hand. If you bet and they raise, then you are likely beat; put no more money in the pot.
Rule #6 for Table Selection
If, while sitting at a table, you discover that it is not the kind of table you want to be at, get up and leave. This may seem trite, but it is one of the primary reasons people lose money at a poker table. They just will not leave the table, even after they realize the table is not right for them. You are not in competition with the table! You are trying to make money playing poker! Perhaps you followed the guidelines above. But 30 minutes later you notice that the players to your right now have very little money, the players to the left now have much larger stacks than you, and that guy that always seems to know what cards you have just sat down to your left (he has position on you.) Leave the table. Leave now. Go. There are scads of other tables. Find a better one.
Making Your Opponent Fold:
A lot of people ask how to make opponents fold so they cannot suck out.
Here is a long story. It will be meaningless to some. To others, it may resonate and really help.
In my 20s and early 30s I practiced an old, particularly brutal martial art. For those who have never practiced a martial art, there is a lot more to it then learning how to hit things. Most of the old ones are complete lifestyles in and of themselves. They teach you how to handle every moment of your life, not just some physical confrontation.
I was at a seminar given by a teacher whom I had trained with several times in the past. He was a good martial artist, but he was an outstanding teacher. Whenever I trained with him I was certain to learn something important.
We were practicing omote-gyaku, a type of wrist lock that twists the hand to the outside, away from the body. A common use of this would be to take an opponent to the ground.
Several of us had practiced the art for years, and had done omote-gyaku drills for many, many hours. Our partner would strike, we would slide to the side getting control of the hand as the strike misses, perform omote-gyaku and take our partner to the ground.
But a lot of people were new to the art. Their partners would strike and they would get control of the hand and try to perform omote-gyaku. But instead of taking the partner to the ground, they would wind up staring face-to-face with their partner while twisting his wrist.
The teacher sees that a lot of people are having trouble and he calls for attention. He calls for a partner and tells the class to pay close attention. The partner strikes, the teacher flawlessly performs omote-gyaku and takes the partner down. He asks, "What happened?"
The class: "Er . . . you did omote-gyaku to him and you made him fall down."
Teacher: "No. Watch again."
And the same thing occurs. The partner strikes, the teacher performs flawless omote-gyaku and down goes the partner.
Teacher: "What happened?"
The class: "Um . . . you did omote-gyaku to him and made him fall down."
Teacher: "No. Watch one more time."
And the same thing occurs.
Teacher: "Anyone?"
The class just fidgets.
Teacher: "I did omote-gyaku to him and he CHOSE to fall down. Because the other CHOICE I gave him was to stand there and let me break his wrist."
The teacher then took a few minutes to describe that the new people were moving the wrist to the outside, but they were not applying sufficient pressure on the wrist. They were just hoping the partner would fall. So they were giving their partner the choice of falling down or standing up and having their wrist lightly twisted. Most just chose to stand there.
The light goes on in the new people's eyes and back they go to practice and, sure enough, they start taking their partners to the ground.
But I and a handful of the other students had been doing this for years. We knew this already (although we could not put it in such words.)
But the lesson was not quite over. The teacher turned to the 6 advanced students and said something which changed my entire approach to life ever since.
Teacher: "No one can MAKE anyone do ANYTHING. All we can ever do is make it easier or harder for people to make certain choices."
And then the light went on in our eyes. How many times in my life have I heard people complain, "How can I make so and so do such and such?" You cannot. All you can do is make it easier for them to make the choice you want them to make and harder for them to make the choice you do not want them to make. But, in the end, the choice will still be theirs to make.
You cannot make someone fold. You can make it harder for them to stay in the hand by forcing them to commit far more chips than it is worth. But, in the end, some will make the choice to stay. By forcing them to commit more chips than it is worth, you will be money-ahead in the long run.
Do your best to properly influence their choices.
Here is a long story. It will be meaningless to some. To others, it may resonate and really help.
In my 20s and early 30s I practiced an old, particularly brutal martial art. For those who have never practiced a martial art, there is a lot more to it then learning how to hit things. Most of the old ones are complete lifestyles in and of themselves. They teach you how to handle every moment of your life, not just some physical confrontation.
I was at a seminar given by a teacher whom I had trained with several times in the past. He was a good martial artist, but he was an outstanding teacher. Whenever I trained with him I was certain to learn something important.
We were practicing omote-gyaku, a type of wrist lock that twists the hand to the outside, away from the body. A common use of this would be to take an opponent to the ground.
Several of us had practiced the art for years, and had done omote-gyaku drills for many, many hours. Our partner would strike, we would slide to the side getting control of the hand as the strike misses, perform omote-gyaku and take our partner to the ground.
But a lot of people were new to the art. Their partners would strike and they would get control of the hand and try to perform omote-gyaku. But instead of taking the partner to the ground, they would wind up staring face-to-face with their partner while twisting his wrist.
The teacher sees that a lot of people are having trouble and he calls for attention. He calls for a partner and tells the class to pay close attention. The partner strikes, the teacher flawlessly performs omote-gyaku and takes the partner down. He asks, "What happened?"
The class: "Er . . . you did omote-gyaku to him and you made him fall down."
Teacher: "No. Watch again."
And the same thing occurs. The partner strikes, the teacher performs flawless omote-gyaku and down goes the partner.
Teacher: "What happened?"
The class: "Um . . . you did omote-gyaku to him and made him fall down."
Teacher: "No. Watch one more time."
And the same thing occurs.
Teacher: "Anyone?"
The class just fidgets.
Teacher: "I did omote-gyaku to him and he CHOSE to fall down. Because the other CHOICE I gave him was to stand there and let me break his wrist."
The teacher then took a few minutes to describe that the new people were moving the wrist to the outside, but they were not applying sufficient pressure on the wrist. They were just hoping the partner would fall. So they were giving their partner the choice of falling down or standing up and having their wrist lightly twisted. Most just chose to stand there.
The light goes on in the new people's eyes and back they go to practice and, sure enough, they start taking their partners to the ground.
But I and a handful of the other students had been doing this for years. We knew this already (although we could not put it in such words.)
But the lesson was not quite over. The teacher turned to the 6 advanced students and said something which changed my entire approach to life ever since.
Teacher: "No one can MAKE anyone do ANYTHING. All we can ever do is make it easier or harder for people to make certain choices."
And then the light went on in our eyes. How many times in my life have I heard people complain, "How can I make so and so do such and such?" You cannot. All you can do is make it easier for them to make the choice you want them to make and harder for them to make the choice you do not want them to make. But, in the end, the choice will still be theirs to make.
You cannot make someone fold. You can make it harder for them to stay in the hand by forcing them to commit far more chips than it is worth. But, in the end, some will make the choice to stay. By forcing them to commit more chips than it is worth, you will be money-ahead in the long run.
Do your best to properly influence their choices.
Winning Money:
Now this is a critical time, it’s very easy to become over confident. Examine your play and ensure you are not getting lucky. When you are making money you need to know why you are making money. Even though you are winning, you should still be examining your hand histories and posting hands in the forum. You might think you have made a great play that you were actually a 4:1 shot to win. You could start winning money with luck going your way (you remember the lucky players who turned $50 into $3000 from part 1 right?). Make sure you know that when you have won a hand, you still played it correctly. You can win poorly played hands and lose hands played perfectly. That’s why poker is such a puzzle.
Once you are routinely doing all this, and are making money consistently (making money is fun!), you have two choices:
Cashouts
Start making small cash outs (Is there something you want to buy that special someone?).
There is a rumour around the net called “the cash out curse”. That is when people win at online poker, make a cash out, and then go on a losing streak. These people think that because they have taken money out of a site, the site has saw fit to punish them. The reality is DingoDave deposited $200, played good poker, and made $600. He’s now moved up in limits with his new and improved bankroll. He then takes out $400. He’s left with $200 now, and thinks to himself, "wow that looks small, I had $600 a minute ago." Sub-consciously he knows he doesn’t have as much money, and starts playing differently. He won’t bet as much to protect his hands, etc. As a result his play has changed from that of a winning player into a losing one.
Also, it’s quite common in poker to have up-swings and down-swings. You may win for 3 days and then, through no fault of your own, lose on day four. As long as your upswings are stronger and more frequent than your downswings, you have nothing to worry about.
If you are going to make a cashout, make it a small one - an amount small enough that will not affect your play when you see your smaller bankroll. Keep repeating this cycle, make small cashouts, slowly let your bankroll grow, and make small cash outs. i.e. - for each $100 you make, cash out $50 and leave the rest in your bankroll.
Build Your Bankroll
This is the option I suggest you take, especially if you started with a smaller bankroll. Building your bankroll will give you more confidence in your play, you know that you can push all in with that AA, and it’s not going to break the bank if you lose. Also, eventually, you will have enough to move up to the next limit. To move up, you want at least twenty buy-ins for the next level. If you are new to playing poker online, I suggest 30 just to be on the safe side. Some level changes are easier than others. If you started at the $5 buy-in tables, the $10 buy in tables won’t have a big diff in skill. However, if you are playing the $25 buy-in tables, the $50 buy-in tables are harder, with more sharks and less fish.
Whichever you decide to do don’t rush ever rush in to moving up in limits. The last thing you want is to have a good run, move up, and have a bad run. Remember, there are a lot of swings in poker. Also - as important as it is to recognise when to move up, it’s equally important to know when to move down. If your bankroll drops down to a level leaving you only 10 buy-ins, it would be a lot safer to drop down to a level that afforded you 20 buy-ins.
Once you are routinely doing all this, and are making money consistently (making money is fun!), you have two choices:
Cashouts
Start making small cash outs (Is there something you want to buy that special someone?).
There is a rumour around the net called “the cash out curse”. That is when people win at online poker, make a cash out, and then go on a losing streak. These people think that because they have taken money out of a site, the site has saw fit to punish them. The reality is DingoDave deposited $200, played good poker, and made $600. He’s now moved up in limits with his new and improved bankroll. He then takes out $400. He’s left with $200 now, and thinks to himself, "wow that looks small, I had $600 a minute ago." Sub-consciously he knows he doesn’t have as much money, and starts playing differently. He won’t bet as much to protect his hands, etc. As a result his play has changed from that of a winning player into a losing one.
Also, it’s quite common in poker to have up-swings and down-swings. You may win for 3 days and then, through no fault of your own, lose on day four. As long as your upswings are stronger and more frequent than your downswings, you have nothing to worry about.
If you are going to make a cashout, make it a small one - an amount small enough that will not affect your play when you see your smaller bankroll. Keep repeating this cycle, make small cashouts, slowly let your bankroll grow, and make small cash outs. i.e. - for each $100 you make, cash out $50 and leave the rest in your bankroll.
Build Your Bankroll
This is the option I suggest you take, especially if you started with a smaller bankroll. Building your bankroll will give you more confidence in your play, you know that you can push all in with that AA, and it’s not going to break the bank if you lose. Also, eventually, you will have enough to move up to the next limit. To move up, you want at least twenty buy-ins for the next level. If you are new to playing poker online, I suggest 30 just to be on the safe side. Some level changes are easier than others. If you started at the $5 buy-in tables, the $10 buy in tables won’t have a big diff in skill. However, if you are playing the $25 buy-in tables, the $50 buy-in tables are harder, with more sharks and less fish.
Whichever you decide to do don’t rush ever rush in to moving up in limits. The last thing you want is to have a good run, move up, and have a bad run. Remember, there are a lot of swings in poker. Also - as important as it is to recognise when to move up, it’s equally important to know when to move down. If your bankroll drops down to a level leaving you only 10 buy-ins, it would be a lot safer to drop down to a level that afforded you 20 buy-ins.
Friday, February 9, 2007
Bad Beats And You: Psychology
You have a pretty looking hand and your opponent has a funny, lopsided looking hand and you're happy to see that all the money goes in the pot. The end.
Everything after that is just an illusion taking your focus away from a truth in poker. You've made the right move, and you'll make money from it. Eventually.
Every time two hands go all in and you're a 90% favorite, you've won 90% of the pot. Write that amount down. It's yours. You just can't spend it until you've played enough hands for luck to even out.
Think about it, you can't win 90% of the pot there even though that's you EV from the hand. You can either win 100% or 0%. Which means, for all things to be right and just in the world, you've got to lose once or twice.
As long as your opponent has outs, he can win. It's not "Some fish: unreal" that they hit their one out, it's poker. That's how the game treats us. If you can't deal with it, you will be a losing player.
This is factor in poker that pisses people off. It drives novice poker players, who think they're the best, crazy. It causes them to tilt and lose more money on horrid play
Bad beat's are supposed to happen. If they never did, online poker would be rigged.
Blaming rigged deals, lame n00bs and horrid luck for something that is going to happen whether you like it or not is hurting your play.
You've got to be able to shake off bad beats and continue to play proper poker so that you can continue to earn 70, 80 and 90% of all the pots you play to the river. If you can't, you'll start earning yourself 25, or 15% of each pot and just tilt yourself further.
So how do you deal with it? It’s easier said then done. I’ve had bad downswings and have titled but that was after nearly a month of consistently getting outdrawn in every big pot.
The Psychology of Losing:
How does knowing "the psychology of losing" help you? You're going to win!! Well, there's psychology there too, but that's for another post. It helps because if you know what subliminal drivers kick in when you lose then you're better prepared to address and combat them, which will decrease your loses. I'm not a psychologist, but I play on online. Enjoy!
Losing is relative. The psychological effects kick in at different times for different people, based on your tolerance and history. Someone with a $1000 bankroll who loses a $5 tournament with a bad beat as an isolated incident won't blink. The same loss to someone else may put them on serious TILT. For instance, if you have a $49 bankroll, that WAS a $100 bankroll and you need to witdraw your money before your wife finds out, but the site won't let you withdraw less than $50, plus this is your 5th "bad beat" in a row, etc. Then it's a mortal lock that psychology will come into play.
The basic psychological and physiological reaction to losing:
Boiled down to it's absolute essence, losing Hurts! Not in an abstract way, but in a very real way. It makes your stomach churn, changes your blood pressure, constricts thousands of muscles and causes physical and mental anguish. Throw emotion on top of that and you have The Psychology of Losing. It's real, we've all felt it, and it's no fun.
So what?
So this... when humans experience pain and discomfort we want to make it GO AWAY!! How do we do that? You're sitting in front of the computer so you click into another game as fast as possible. The best way to make the pain of losing go away is to WIN!! And you want to win as quickly as possible. Add to that the fact that you're still kicking yourself for losing (whether justified or not)... How could you play so smart for 2 hours (at a ring game or MTT for instance) and then implode so quickly? And you have a recipe for disaster.
Your body wants to feel better, your mind wants to prove it's worth, your ego wants to regain it's self-respect. And maybe, you're loses are causing a financial pressure. And it's all relative. You could have started with $100 and grown it to $310 over a few session or weeks of play. Now you're back below $220 and your scared to see that number go below $200 for no real reason other than ego. In reality you're up, but it doesn't feel that way. (Alternately it could cause an ACTUAL financial stress, which is worse). So, all this combines into an unstoppable urge to keep playing. Maybe at higher stakes. If it took you 3 weeks to build that bankroll, you don't want to have to start another 2 week process because you had a bad few hours. So patience and reality go out the window and you increase the stakes to "recover faster". Or start Multi-tabling where you weren't before. When the loss of a single hand triggers this response, then that's what most people see as "going on tilt".
Does any of this sound familiar? If not it's because you're playing with points and not money or have been playing for only 30 minutes. It happens to everyone at every level: Micro, Tournament, High Stakes, etc.
The important thing to understand is that the symptoms you feel when you lose are out of your control. They are as physiological and automatic as your heart beating or sneezing. The other important thing to remember is that good poker play requires PATIENCE, ABSTRACT THINKING, and A NEUTRAL TO POSITIVE OUTLOOK. You will lose money if you are in a hurry, distracted by your own body and worried.
SO WHAT DO YOU DO?
1. KNOW THYSELF. Understand when this kicks in for you. You could lose 5 tournaments in a row, but your expectations are to win 1 out of 6, and you have the bankroll and history that makes it all "normal". This may not kick in until you lose the 6th tournament. Or you may expect to win money 2 days out of 3 playing limit, so it doesn't kick in when you've had a few hours or a day of negative income. But you need to know what your expectations are regarding losing and "know thyself". When you feel the first tinge of physical or emotional response to losing then the affects above are kicking in. The solution is to stop playing until you get yourself back under control (more on that below).
2. KNOW YOUR EXPECTATIONS. (This is a secret to life in and of itself, so take note.) I don't know the secret to happiness, but I DO know the secret to unhappiness. It is UNFULFILLED EXPECTATIONS. You expect your life to "change" and get great when you graduate high school, and then it doesn't. You're unhappy. Why? No reason, everything is fine, you aren't being shipped off to a prison work camp, you have food and friends and activities. But reality didn't meet your expectations and you have Unrealistic Unhappiness. It happens for women post marriage. They expected this married fantasy bliss, and it's not there after about the first month. They get unhappy. Why? They're married! They have a handsome husband, new apartments... etc. Nothing is REALLY wrong, but they have UNFULFILLED EXPECTATIONS. So they are unhappy.
What are your expectations? Are they realistic? Do you expect to lose? You should not expect to always win. Do you expect to be Mr. Poker with only 3 years experience? (yes, it takes a long time to get as good as you expect! 3 years is nothing.) If you're new to poker, you really need to examine your expectations. May I suggest that you expect to pay a "learning tax" and make the most of what you learn. If you break even, or win then it's a Bonus. But, if you put your mind and effort into it, then you will eventually start collecting other players' "learning tax". AS you get better that income increases and you can make good money if you want. Or you can play break-even poker - which is free excitement and entertainment. But, have your expectations match reality. Because if you don't, the PAIN RESPONSE will kick in and you'll "go on tilt" - which is another way of saying you will sucumb to the Psychology of Losing.
The solution to this is to Ajust Your Expectations (more on this below)
How to Do what you need to do to reverse the Psychological Effect of Losing.
There's more that could be said above, but these 2 points are the main points to address in this post. So here are some suggestions and thoughts on how to execute a recovery strategy.
1. Stop Playing
If you can't turn off the computer and walk away then you have a problem. And you should see it as a problem. You don't have to rush off to a 12 step meeting. But if your poker is affecting your life and relationships with others in a negative way, your job, life finances, causing depression, etc. Then you probably should get professional help. Poker isn't that important!!
(If you have this problem then you probably already suspect it and don't want to face it. Let me just say this, and if it sounds like a public service add, then it does. If you acknowledge to yourself that you have a problem and realize that your life and family are more important than the problem, then you will overcome it. You just need some professional help and counselling. You will live the life you want and not a life of cyclical pain and self-destruction. You can have that great life you imagine without poker. Guranteed!)
FOR MOST OF US THOUGH, the problem isn't a life problem. It's an issue of minimizing our losses and increasing our positive poker sessions. So here are some things you can do.
Again, turn off the computer. Call the session done! So you lost?? OK. Accept it. Put it in perspective. Did losing give you cancer? NO! Did it make your wife leave you? NO! Did it cause your beautiful lawn to sprout weeds? NO! OK. There's no Real Damage!! There's no Real Danger... Your body is registering a Danger Response to an imagined danger. Understand and accept it. Physical separation from the stimulus (i.e. the game) will let your body calm down, will let your mind start to digest what happened, and will keep you from blowing the money you have left in a vain and fruitless attempt to "recover". You can't recover the money Right Now. But you can recover yourself right now, by walking away.
Do something else. Something physical is best. It will disperse the physical effects more quickly and occupy your mind. Clean something!!! Yea! That'll also make the wife happy and you'll get satisfaction from that. Imagine how much your wife will LOVE the fact that you play poker if when you win the family gets Money and when you lose the house gets Clean?? That's a win-win!! And it's a win-win for you. When you win money you get warm and fuzzy feelings of power and ego, and when you lose you get SEX!!!
You could also take a walk, mow the grass, clean the gutters, take a drive with the top down (I have a Jeep) or the windows open. Get some fresh air! Play with the kids!! They've been waiting for "Daddy to get off the computer" for 3 hours. They'll love it.
Don't watch a movie or read a book. You'll keep stewing and they aren't as effective as something physical.
What if your loss was late at night? Take a piss (you've been waiting until a break), take a sleeping pill - not the whole bottle haha - and go to bed. Honestly, take a sleeping pill. They aren't addictive, you have work in the morning and you don't need to miss sleep thinking about why you reraised AI with 66 against a reraiser with AA. You'll feel better in the morning.
If you want to play more the same day, then you need to take a good, long, physical break. Do something that will make you feel good about life. Work out! You'll help your health. Go out to eat at a nice restaurant. You'll help your outlook on life. Etc. But, if you aren't 100% relaxed, 100% patient and 100% prepared to play poker the way you know you should and feel you can, then you're not ready to play yet.
What if you're in the Middle of a Tournament?? If you can click "deal me out", recoginize the symptoms and do what you can to dissipate them. Take as long of a break as possible. Recognize that YOU MIGHT LOSE AND THAT'S OK!!! Come to grips with the prospect of losing and decide that it's not the worst thing in the world. Then decide that if you are going to lose it's not going to be because you went on Tilt. You're going to invest your time, skill and energy to the best of your ability until the last hand. If you do lose, you won't feel as bad as if you tilted out!!
Enuf said? Recognize your response to losing is physical and psychological in ways you can't "decide" away or ignore. You have to Do something else.
If you've taken a particularly bad loss or lost your entire bankroll, you may need to take a longer break. Days, weeks, even months. If you have money online it'll still be there 6 weeks later - which is more than can be said if you play on tilt. Take some time to study your play, read a book or two, learn more, change your game. Re-read the book that helped you learn to play well in the first place. Take notes. Poker won't go away during your break. There will probably be 1000 new fish on the site when you return and the shark who spanked you around may have moved to another site or higher stakes. Don't return to playing until you feel you have the skills and mentality you need to win.
2. Adjust Your Expectations
I'm posting this in the beginner's area. If you're a beginner or you haven't "learned poker" then you really need to adjust your expectations. I don't care what limit your playing, there are some players there who have studied poker, know it like the back of their hand, and have been playing for years and years!!! The higher the stakes, generally, the more experienced the players. That's not a bad thing! You are getting your money's worth for your "learning tax".
If you think you have a 6th sense, a "feel for the game", you can "spot weakness" naturally, etc. You don't. I'm being frank. No one does. Those feelings aren't feelings, they are based on experience, study, knowledge and statistical analysis. When all that becomes innate then it looks like "feel". But I doubt any highly successful player will say they have a "natural talent" other than their talent to learn and their experience and commitment to playing good poker. It's easy to feel that way when you're winning. But there's always an element of luck, even playing AA there's luck. You choose this time to go AI and someone calls with KK and you hold up to win. Statistics said you would probably win. But it was LUCKY that someone had 2nd best hand and a willingness to call your AI bet. We increase our chances by learning and experience.
One way to adjust expectations is to keep records. Past history DOES predict future results, all else being equal. Most people don't understand that past records for thousands of hands is required. So they see streaks. But they are just small portions of a correct statistical sampling. Flip a coin 30 times and it may come up heads 20 times. Flip it a million times and the difference between heads and tails will be will within any margin of error. So don't interpret small scale changes as trends. Adjust your expectations. When you haven't played thousands of hands, then HAVE NO EXPECTATIONS!! You're still building your statistical baseline to base any expectations on. You can study your hands and your play against "recommended" play and learn how to play better in the short term. There are plenty of helps regarding that here and elsewhere.
Adjust your monetary expectations. No one WANTS to follow the bankroll management advice on this site and elsewhere. Just understand that if you don't then you're going to see some swings that look scary and can take your entire bankroll. Don't EXPECT to be unique in all the world of Poker. You can't play 50% of your bankroll on any given day and not suffer the natural and unavoidable consequences of that move.
We all see ourselves as unique, special, talented. There's nothing wrong with that, except that when you're talking about Poker you're playing a game of statistics, skill and experience. You can't change statistics. If you change your skill and experience (generally over a long period of time) then you can become unique, special and talented. It's like that saying "ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL, BUT SOME OF US OUTGROW IT".
Do you expect to be able to play 6 hours a day, when your family and other obligations don't allow it? Adjust your expectations!
There are plenty of other "expectations" that need adjusting. Here's the bottom line (in poker and in life). If you are UnHappy, then you need to look at what your expectations Were, what Actually Happened, and either adjust your expectations to match reality or take the action necessary to adjust reality to match your expectations. If you hate your job it's because you expected.... whatever. Either make that happen, adjust your expectations or change jobs. Same with poker.
Knowing where you fit in the poker spectrum when it comes to skill, experience and your chosen game/limits, will also help you understand and deal with losses. They will also help you know when, where and how you need to improve. If that's your goal then losing is a positive. If you didn't lose how else would you know your weaknesses and know where to spend your energy.
Can you turn a loss into a positive experience? I do it all the time. I'll be heads up in a tourney and have my hat handed to me by a skilled player = more skilled than me by a mile. I'll watch everything he does and learn. I'll make notes. I'll replay it in my mind. I'll add his tricks to my bag and be grateful for the experience. Let's say I don't make it in the money and the same thing happens (that's losing), I'll do the same thing.
SUMMARY
1. Not every loss activates the Psychology of Losing reaction. Know what triggers it with you and learn to recognize the symptoms.
2. Adjust your play to reduce the opportunity for this loss reaction to happen often (if possible)
3. When it happens, recognize it and take steps to dissipate it. If you're in the middle of a tournament and can't just turn off then adjust your expectations very quickly, take a few hands off, and recover the best you can. You may lose anyway, but you'll give yourself a better shot than you would have had otherwise.
4. If poker affects your family, life, finances in a serious way then get professional help.
5. Physical loss reactions require physical actions to clear up. Stop playing and do something else.
6. Know your game, know your circumstances and adjust your expectations to match.
Finally, if you're not having fun over the long run, then why do it? If you love playing poker, life's too short to deny yourself that excitment. And if it just seems like a constanst struggle with no upside, then life's too short to waste your time doing it!!
Good luck and happy playing!
Everything after that is just an illusion taking your focus away from a truth in poker. You've made the right move, and you'll make money from it. Eventually.
Every time two hands go all in and you're a 90% favorite, you've won 90% of the pot. Write that amount down. It's yours. You just can't spend it until you've played enough hands for luck to even out.
Think about it, you can't win 90% of the pot there even though that's you EV from the hand. You can either win 100% or 0%. Which means, for all things to be right and just in the world, you've got to lose once or twice.
As long as your opponent has outs, he can win. It's not "Some fish: unreal" that they hit their one out, it's poker. That's how the game treats us. If you can't deal with it, you will be a losing player.
This is factor in poker that pisses people off. It drives novice poker players, who think they're the best, crazy. It causes them to tilt and lose more money on horrid play
Bad beat's are supposed to happen. If they never did, online poker would be rigged.
Blaming rigged deals, lame n00bs and horrid luck for something that is going to happen whether you like it or not is hurting your play.
You've got to be able to shake off bad beats and continue to play proper poker so that you can continue to earn 70, 80 and 90% of all the pots you play to the river. If you can't, you'll start earning yourself 25, or 15% of each pot and just tilt yourself further.
So how do you deal with it? It’s easier said then done. I’ve had bad downswings and have titled but that was after nearly a month of consistently getting outdrawn in every big pot.
The Psychology of Losing:
How does knowing "the psychology of losing" help you? You're going to win!! Well, there's psychology there too, but that's for another post. It helps because if you know what subliminal drivers kick in when you lose then you're better prepared to address and combat them, which will decrease your loses. I'm not a psychologist, but I play on online. Enjoy!
Losing is relative. The psychological effects kick in at different times for different people, based on your tolerance and history. Someone with a $1000 bankroll who loses a $5 tournament with a bad beat as an isolated incident won't blink. The same loss to someone else may put them on serious TILT. For instance, if you have a $49 bankroll, that WAS a $100 bankroll and you need to witdraw your money before your wife finds out, but the site won't let you withdraw less than $50, plus this is your 5th "bad beat" in a row, etc. Then it's a mortal lock that psychology will come into play.
The basic psychological and physiological reaction to losing:
Boiled down to it's absolute essence, losing Hurts! Not in an abstract way, but in a very real way. It makes your stomach churn, changes your blood pressure, constricts thousands of muscles and causes physical and mental anguish. Throw emotion on top of that and you have The Psychology of Losing. It's real, we've all felt it, and it's no fun.
So what?
So this... when humans experience pain and discomfort we want to make it GO AWAY!! How do we do that? You're sitting in front of the computer so you click into another game as fast as possible. The best way to make the pain of losing go away is to WIN!! And you want to win as quickly as possible. Add to that the fact that you're still kicking yourself for losing (whether justified or not)... How could you play so smart for 2 hours (at a ring game or MTT for instance) and then implode so quickly? And you have a recipe for disaster.
Your body wants to feel better, your mind wants to prove it's worth, your ego wants to regain it's self-respect. And maybe, you're loses are causing a financial pressure. And it's all relative. You could have started with $100 and grown it to $310 over a few session or weeks of play. Now you're back below $220 and your scared to see that number go below $200 for no real reason other than ego. In reality you're up, but it doesn't feel that way. (Alternately it could cause an ACTUAL financial stress, which is worse). So, all this combines into an unstoppable urge to keep playing. Maybe at higher stakes. If it took you 3 weeks to build that bankroll, you don't want to have to start another 2 week process because you had a bad few hours. So patience and reality go out the window and you increase the stakes to "recover faster". Or start Multi-tabling where you weren't before. When the loss of a single hand triggers this response, then that's what most people see as "going on tilt".
Does any of this sound familiar? If not it's because you're playing with points and not money or have been playing for only 30 minutes. It happens to everyone at every level: Micro, Tournament, High Stakes, etc.
The important thing to understand is that the symptoms you feel when you lose are out of your control. They are as physiological and automatic as your heart beating or sneezing. The other important thing to remember is that good poker play requires PATIENCE, ABSTRACT THINKING, and A NEUTRAL TO POSITIVE OUTLOOK. You will lose money if you are in a hurry, distracted by your own body and worried.
SO WHAT DO YOU DO?
1. KNOW THYSELF. Understand when this kicks in for you. You could lose 5 tournaments in a row, but your expectations are to win 1 out of 6, and you have the bankroll and history that makes it all "normal". This may not kick in until you lose the 6th tournament. Or you may expect to win money 2 days out of 3 playing limit, so it doesn't kick in when you've had a few hours or a day of negative income. But you need to know what your expectations are regarding losing and "know thyself". When you feel the first tinge of physical or emotional response to losing then the affects above are kicking in. The solution is to stop playing until you get yourself back under control (more on that below).
2. KNOW YOUR EXPECTATIONS. (This is a secret to life in and of itself, so take note.) I don't know the secret to happiness, but I DO know the secret to unhappiness. It is UNFULFILLED EXPECTATIONS. You expect your life to "change" and get great when you graduate high school, and then it doesn't. You're unhappy. Why? No reason, everything is fine, you aren't being shipped off to a prison work camp, you have food and friends and activities. But reality didn't meet your expectations and you have Unrealistic Unhappiness. It happens for women post marriage. They expected this married fantasy bliss, and it's not there after about the first month. They get unhappy. Why? They're married! They have a handsome husband, new apartments... etc. Nothing is REALLY wrong, but they have UNFULFILLED EXPECTATIONS. So they are unhappy.
What are your expectations? Are they realistic? Do you expect to lose? You should not expect to always win. Do you expect to be Mr. Poker with only 3 years experience? (yes, it takes a long time to get as good as you expect! 3 years is nothing.) If you're new to poker, you really need to examine your expectations. May I suggest that you expect to pay a "learning tax" and make the most of what you learn. If you break even, or win then it's a Bonus. But, if you put your mind and effort into it, then you will eventually start collecting other players' "learning tax". AS you get better that income increases and you can make good money if you want. Or you can play break-even poker - which is free excitement and entertainment. But, have your expectations match reality. Because if you don't, the PAIN RESPONSE will kick in and you'll "go on tilt" - which is another way of saying you will sucumb to the Psychology of Losing.
The solution to this is to Ajust Your Expectations (more on this below)
How to Do what you need to do to reverse the Psychological Effect of Losing.
There's more that could be said above, but these 2 points are the main points to address in this post. So here are some suggestions and thoughts on how to execute a recovery strategy.
1. Stop Playing
If you can't turn off the computer and walk away then you have a problem. And you should see it as a problem. You don't have to rush off to a 12 step meeting. But if your poker is affecting your life and relationships with others in a negative way, your job, life finances, causing depression, etc. Then you probably should get professional help. Poker isn't that important!!
(If you have this problem then you probably already suspect it and don't want to face it. Let me just say this, and if it sounds like a public service add, then it does. If you acknowledge to yourself that you have a problem and realize that your life and family are more important than the problem, then you will overcome it. You just need some professional help and counselling. You will live the life you want and not a life of cyclical pain and self-destruction. You can have that great life you imagine without poker. Guranteed!)
FOR MOST OF US THOUGH, the problem isn't a life problem. It's an issue of minimizing our losses and increasing our positive poker sessions. So here are some things you can do.
Again, turn off the computer. Call the session done! So you lost?? OK. Accept it. Put it in perspective. Did losing give you cancer? NO! Did it make your wife leave you? NO! Did it cause your beautiful lawn to sprout weeds? NO! OK. There's no Real Damage!! There's no Real Danger... Your body is registering a Danger Response to an imagined danger. Understand and accept it. Physical separation from the stimulus (i.e. the game) will let your body calm down, will let your mind start to digest what happened, and will keep you from blowing the money you have left in a vain and fruitless attempt to "recover". You can't recover the money Right Now. But you can recover yourself right now, by walking away.
Do something else. Something physical is best. It will disperse the physical effects more quickly and occupy your mind. Clean something!!! Yea! That'll also make the wife happy and you'll get satisfaction from that. Imagine how much your wife will LOVE the fact that you play poker if when you win the family gets Money and when you lose the house gets Clean?? That's a win-win!! And it's a win-win for you. When you win money you get warm and fuzzy feelings of power and ego, and when you lose you get SEX!!!
You could also take a walk, mow the grass, clean the gutters, take a drive with the top down (I have a Jeep) or the windows open. Get some fresh air! Play with the kids!! They've been waiting for "Daddy to get off the computer" for 3 hours. They'll love it.
Don't watch a movie or read a book. You'll keep stewing and they aren't as effective as something physical.
What if your loss was late at night? Take a piss (you've been waiting until a break), take a sleeping pill - not the whole bottle haha - and go to bed. Honestly, take a sleeping pill. They aren't addictive, you have work in the morning and you don't need to miss sleep thinking about why you reraised AI with 66 against a reraiser with AA. You'll feel better in the morning.
If you want to play more the same day, then you need to take a good, long, physical break. Do something that will make you feel good about life. Work out! You'll help your health. Go out to eat at a nice restaurant. You'll help your outlook on life. Etc. But, if you aren't 100% relaxed, 100% patient and 100% prepared to play poker the way you know you should and feel you can, then you're not ready to play yet.
What if you're in the Middle of a Tournament?? If you can click "deal me out", recoginize the symptoms and do what you can to dissipate them. Take as long of a break as possible. Recognize that YOU MIGHT LOSE AND THAT'S OK!!! Come to grips with the prospect of losing and decide that it's not the worst thing in the world. Then decide that if you are going to lose it's not going to be because you went on Tilt. You're going to invest your time, skill and energy to the best of your ability until the last hand. If you do lose, you won't feel as bad as if you tilted out!!
Enuf said? Recognize your response to losing is physical and psychological in ways you can't "decide" away or ignore. You have to Do something else.
If you've taken a particularly bad loss or lost your entire bankroll, you may need to take a longer break. Days, weeks, even months. If you have money online it'll still be there 6 weeks later - which is more than can be said if you play on tilt. Take some time to study your play, read a book or two, learn more, change your game. Re-read the book that helped you learn to play well in the first place. Take notes. Poker won't go away during your break. There will probably be 1000 new fish on the site when you return and the shark who spanked you around may have moved to another site or higher stakes. Don't return to playing until you feel you have the skills and mentality you need to win.
2. Adjust Your Expectations
I'm posting this in the beginner's area. If you're a beginner or you haven't "learned poker" then you really need to adjust your expectations. I don't care what limit your playing, there are some players there who have studied poker, know it like the back of their hand, and have been playing for years and years!!! The higher the stakes, generally, the more experienced the players. That's not a bad thing! You are getting your money's worth for your "learning tax".
If you think you have a 6th sense, a "feel for the game", you can "spot weakness" naturally, etc. You don't. I'm being frank. No one does. Those feelings aren't feelings, they are based on experience, study, knowledge and statistical analysis. When all that becomes innate then it looks like "feel". But I doubt any highly successful player will say they have a "natural talent" other than their talent to learn and their experience and commitment to playing good poker. It's easy to feel that way when you're winning. But there's always an element of luck, even playing AA there's luck. You choose this time to go AI and someone calls with KK and you hold up to win. Statistics said you would probably win. But it was LUCKY that someone had 2nd best hand and a willingness to call your AI bet. We increase our chances by learning and experience.
One way to adjust expectations is to keep records. Past history DOES predict future results, all else being equal. Most people don't understand that past records for thousands of hands is required. So they see streaks. But they are just small portions of a correct statistical sampling. Flip a coin 30 times and it may come up heads 20 times. Flip it a million times and the difference between heads and tails will be will within any margin of error. So don't interpret small scale changes as trends. Adjust your expectations. When you haven't played thousands of hands, then HAVE NO EXPECTATIONS!! You're still building your statistical baseline to base any expectations on. You can study your hands and your play against "recommended" play and learn how to play better in the short term. There are plenty of helps regarding that here and elsewhere.
Adjust your monetary expectations. No one WANTS to follow the bankroll management advice on this site and elsewhere. Just understand that if you don't then you're going to see some swings that look scary and can take your entire bankroll. Don't EXPECT to be unique in all the world of Poker. You can't play 50% of your bankroll on any given day and not suffer the natural and unavoidable consequences of that move.
We all see ourselves as unique, special, talented. There's nothing wrong with that, except that when you're talking about Poker you're playing a game of statistics, skill and experience. You can't change statistics. If you change your skill and experience (generally over a long period of time) then you can become unique, special and talented. It's like that saying "ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL, BUT SOME OF US OUTGROW IT".
Do you expect to be able to play 6 hours a day, when your family and other obligations don't allow it? Adjust your expectations!
There are plenty of other "expectations" that need adjusting. Here's the bottom line (in poker and in life). If you are UnHappy, then you need to look at what your expectations Were, what Actually Happened, and either adjust your expectations to match reality or take the action necessary to adjust reality to match your expectations. If you hate your job it's because you expected.... whatever. Either make that happen, adjust your expectations or change jobs. Same with poker.
Knowing where you fit in the poker spectrum when it comes to skill, experience and your chosen game/limits, will also help you understand and deal with losses. They will also help you know when, where and how you need to improve. If that's your goal then losing is a positive. If you didn't lose how else would you know your weaknesses and know where to spend your energy.
Can you turn a loss into a positive experience? I do it all the time. I'll be heads up in a tourney and have my hat handed to me by a skilled player = more skilled than me by a mile. I'll watch everything he does and learn. I'll make notes. I'll replay it in my mind. I'll add his tricks to my bag and be grateful for the experience. Let's say I don't make it in the money and the same thing happens (that's losing), I'll do the same thing.
SUMMARY
1. Not every loss activates the Psychology of Losing reaction. Know what triggers it with you and learn to recognize the symptoms.
2. Adjust your play to reduce the opportunity for this loss reaction to happen often (if possible)
3. When it happens, recognize it and take steps to dissipate it. If you're in the middle of a tournament and can't just turn off then adjust your expectations very quickly, take a few hands off, and recover the best you can. You may lose anyway, but you'll give yourself a better shot than you would have had otherwise.
4. If poker affects your family, life, finances in a serious way then get professional help.
5. Physical loss reactions require physical actions to clear up. Stop playing and do something else.
6. Know your game, know your circumstances and adjust your expectations to match.
Finally, if you're not having fun over the long run, then why do it? If you love playing poker, life's too short to deny yourself that excitment. And if it just seems like a constanst struggle with no upside, then life's too short to waste your time doing it!!
Good luck and happy playing!
Bankroll Management !
To understand why Bankroll Managment is so important, you have to understand how you should approach the game of poker.
Poker is a long term game, it is not AA v KK getting cracked on the river. It is a game of thousands of iterations of these hands. Throughout the carreer of a poker player, you will see aces more than your fare share and though you will lose with them from time to time, you will win a lot more. Everytime you play aces properly, it is a positive investment even though you may lose money on any given occurence. It's not a game of, "Mah gaht dahm aces got cracked a-gaht-damn-gain! Gah!"
Poker is a horrible short term game, you can be ontop of the world one day and drowning in the depths of the river valley the next. It's a game of swings. You WILL lose at some point, it's a statistical certainty. It is the undefinable "luck" that people are so quick to blame. So you need to make sure you have enough money in your online bank so that the loses don't phase you. You need a fat enough roll to never go bust becuase of a bad streak and to help prevent tilt.100 bucks just isn't what it used to be from a poker perspective.
The numbers might be a little off here or there but the idea is: If you're never risking much of your bankroll from day to day, you allow yourself to play your game risk-free. Losing money won't drive you to suicide *cough* And your back should never be against the wall.
Poker is a game of positive longterm investments, you want to make sure that you have enough money to stick around and reap the rewards of these investments.
Poker is a long term game, it is not AA v KK getting cracked on the river. It is a game of thousands of iterations of these hands. Throughout the carreer of a poker player, you will see aces more than your fare share and though you will lose with them from time to time, you will win a lot more. Everytime you play aces properly, it is a positive investment even though you may lose money on any given occurence. It's not a game of, "Mah gaht dahm aces got cracked a-gaht-damn-gain! Gah!"
Poker is a horrible short term game, you can be ontop of the world one day and drowning in the depths of the river valley the next. It's a game of swings. You WILL lose at some point, it's a statistical certainty. It is the undefinable "luck" that people are so quick to blame. So you need to make sure you have enough money in your online bank so that the loses don't phase you. You need a fat enough roll to never go bust becuase of a bad streak and to help prevent tilt.100 bucks just isn't what it used to be from a poker perspective.
The numbers might be a little off here or there but the idea is: If you're never risking much of your bankroll from day to day, you allow yourself to play your game risk-free. Losing money won't drive you to suicide *cough* And your back should never be against the wall.
Poker is a game of positive longterm investments, you want to make sure that you have enough money to stick around and reap the rewards of these investments.
Texas Holdem: Starting Hands
One of the biggest problems new poker players have is that they play too many hands. aokrongly discusses starting hands for new players in ring games.
The 19 starting hands apply to no limit ring games. They don't apply to tournaments, sng's, or limit. They are good for new players. Everyone needs a base from which to expand their playing repetiore.
The 19 starting hands are
All poket pairs (that's 13)
AK
AQ
AJ
KQ
QJ
KJ
Here's how you play them. (BTW, this thread will be full of alot of people talking about alot of things. That's great. I could talk about alot of things too. But the fact is newbie players need someplace to start that's going to keep them in the game and out of trouble. Texture, Color, Feel, The FLOW OF THE GAME, etc. are all advanced topics. Be sure to fire away.) Play the 19 hands on NL ring games below below NL $200 and you'll at least be playing live cards and win when you hit the flop more often than not.
Here's how you play them AA, KK, QQ, JJ and AK raise preflop 3-5xBB. If the pot is raised before it gets to you then reraise with AA, and probably KK. If you get reraised back then Push the AA. KK is a toss up, do what you want. Call a raise with the rest. If you end up in the middle of a raise/reraise between to players, just get out of the way without AA - or if you think your KK is good push and hope one of them doesn't hit their A high.
AQ, IF NO ONE HAS RAISE BEFORE YOU then RAISE. If someone Does RAISE BEFORE YOU then FOLD. You heard me right. AQ is a raising hand preflop into an unraised pot but it's an autofold into a raised preflop pot.
AJ, KQ, QJ, call preflop if it's unraised. FOLD preflop if it's raised.
POCKET PAIRS call raises preflop up to 4xBB Fold to bigger raises. HOWEVER, look at the raiser (and other callers stacks) if they don't have any money then just fold. You want them to have money so IF YOU HIT A SET you will get paid off. If you don't hit a set then be prepared to fold very quickly. If you have an overpair to the board then play it carefully.
AT is an auto fold, KT is an autofold. People will talk about connectors and suited whatevers, position, pot odds, blah blah blah. They don't mean much in very low NL ring games. In those games your cards generally win. But if you're going to push people off a hand then at least do it with a good Continuation Bet after raising preflop.
Anyway. I'm a big fan of learning to play a well rounded game. But I've done that and made alot of money in nl ring, sng, and mtt's. Wanna know how many hands I play preflop?
19!
It'll keep you out of trouble. I will say I'm a master at playing those 19 hands, imho. And I will say there's alot more to poker than what hands you start with. HOWEVER, the biggest problem most players have (not just beginning players, but MOST players) is that they have no idea what they should play preflop, how or why. Just master the 19 and at least explore various ways to play them, learn how others react, see how hands play out, etc. After you do that (which should take about a year playing 5000 hands per week) then start doing some other things.
The 19 starting hands apply to no limit ring games. They don't apply to tournaments, sng's, or limit. They are good for new players. Everyone needs a base from which to expand their playing repetiore.
The 19 starting hands are
All poket pairs (that's 13)
AK
AQ
AJ
KQ
QJ
KJ
Here's how you play them. (BTW, this thread will be full of alot of people talking about alot of things. That's great. I could talk about alot of things too. But the fact is newbie players need someplace to start that's going to keep them in the game and out of trouble. Texture, Color, Feel, The FLOW OF THE GAME, etc. are all advanced topics. Be sure to fire away.) Play the 19 hands on NL ring games below below NL $200 and you'll at least be playing live cards and win when you hit the flop more often than not.
Here's how you play them AA, KK, QQ, JJ and AK raise preflop 3-5xBB. If the pot is raised before it gets to you then reraise with AA, and probably KK. If you get reraised back then Push the AA. KK is a toss up, do what you want. Call a raise with the rest. If you end up in the middle of a raise/reraise between to players, just get out of the way without AA - or if you think your KK is good push and hope one of them doesn't hit their A high.
AQ, IF NO ONE HAS RAISE BEFORE YOU then RAISE. If someone Does RAISE BEFORE YOU then FOLD. You heard me right. AQ is a raising hand preflop into an unraised pot but it's an autofold into a raised preflop pot.
AJ, KQ, QJ, call preflop if it's unraised. FOLD preflop if it's raised.
POCKET PAIRS call raises preflop up to 4xBB Fold to bigger raises. HOWEVER, look at the raiser (and other callers stacks) if they don't have any money then just fold. You want them to have money so IF YOU HIT A SET you will get paid off. If you don't hit a set then be prepared to fold very quickly. If you have an overpair to the board then play it carefully.
AT is an auto fold, KT is an autofold. People will talk about connectors and suited whatevers, position, pot odds, blah blah blah. They don't mean much in very low NL ring games. In those games your cards generally win. But if you're going to push people off a hand then at least do it with a good Continuation Bet after raising preflop.
Anyway. I'm a big fan of learning to play a well rounded game. But I've done that and made alot of money in nl ring, sng, and mtt's. Wanna know how many hands I play preflop?
19!
It'll keep you out of trouble. I will say I'm a master at playing those 19 hands, imho. And I will say there's alot more to poker than what hands you start with. HOWEVER, the biggest problem most players have (not just beginning players, but MOST players) is that they have no idea what they should play preflop, how or why. Just master the 19 and at least explore various ways to play them, learn how others react, see how hands play out, etc. After you do that (which should take about a year playing 5000 hands per week) then start doing some other things.
Poker Rules:Crazy Pineapple
Crazy Pineapple is another lesser known online poker game, but it is easy to learn. The rules of Crazy Pineapple are very similar to that of Texas Holdem. There are only two differences between the two poker games:
You receive 3 hole cards instead of two
You must discard 1 of those hole cards AFTER betting on the flop has completed! LOL, sound like fun?
Everything else is exactly the same as Texas Holdem - blind structure, flop, turn, river dealing structure, and you may use one, both, or none of your hole cards to make the best 5 card poker hand. So, the key here is to understand some of the odds, and discarding the right card based on the probablities of improving your hand to be the winning hand!
You receive 3 hole cards instead of two
You must discard 1 of those hole cards AFTER betting on the flop has completed! LOL, sound like fun?
Everything else is exactly the same as Texas Holdem - blind structure, flop, turn, river dealing structure, and you may use one, both, or none of your hole cards to make the best 5 card poker hand. So, the key here is to understand some of the odds, and discarding the right card based on the probablities of improving your hand to be the winning hand!
Poker Rules:Razz
Razz is one of the lesser known poker games that gained some awareness during the 2004 World Series of Poker coverage on ESPN. ESPN's coverage of the Razz title at the WSOP introduced many people to this simple, but often brutal poker game.
The rules of Razz combine the rules of lowball and 7 card stud. The goal is to make the best five-card low hand from the seven cards you are dealt. It is played with anywhere from 2-8 players. The game is dealt and structured just like 7 Card Stud - there is an ante to required to play, and there are 5 betting rounds, the first 2 of which are at the lower limit and the last 3 are at the higher limit. Each player starts with two hole cards and one upcard and then we have a betting round. Then the dealer gives each active player three more upcards, and then a final downcard, with betting rounds after each.
Each player ends up with seven cards, four face up and three face down. At the showdown, the player holding the best low hand using only five of his seven cards wins the pot. Aces are always low, and flushes and straights have no effect on the value of a hand. The best possible hand is A-2-3-4-5.
The rules of Razz combine the rules of lowball and 7 card stud. The goal is to make the best five-card low hand from the seven cards you are dealt. It is played with anywhere from 2-8 players. The game is dealt and structured just like 7 Card Stud - there is an ante to required to play, and there are 5 betting rounds, the first 2 of which are at the lower limit and the last 3 are at the higher limit. Each player starts with two hole cards and one upcard and then we have a betting round. Then the dealer gives each active player three more upcards, and then a final downcard, with betting rounds after each.
Each player ends up with seven cards, four face up and three face down. At the showdown, the player holding the best low hand using only five of his seven cards wins the pot. Aces are always low, and flushes and straights have no effect on the value of a hand. The best possible hand is A-2-3-4-5.
Poker Rules:5 Card Stud
The rules of 5 Card Stud are these - all players must first ante before they receive their initial cards, just like in 7 Card Stud. There are four betting rounds in a complete game of 5 Card Stud, not including the ante.
Each player is dealt two cards, one face down and then one face up. That first card will be your only card that is face down. On this first round of betting, the low card by suit is required to initiate action with a bet equal to half the lower limit (bring-in). Suits are ranked: spades (highest), hearts, diamonds, clubs. On subsequent rounds, the high hand on board initiates betting action, again, just like 7 Card Stud.
Then, each player receives one more card face down and the second round of betting begins. Each bet and raise during the first two rounds of betting is set at the lower limit of the stakes structure. For example, in a $3/$6 game, all bets and raises are $3 for the first two rounds. The exception to this rule is if any player displays a pair with their 2 face-up cards after the third street is dealt. In this circumstance, all players have the option to bet either the lower limit or the higher limit. If a player bets the higher limit, then all subsequent raises must be made at the higher limit. (This is true of 7 Card Stud as well.)
The fourth card is dealt face down, and our third round of betting begins, and then our fifth and final card is dealt face down, and the fourth and final round of betting begins. Each bet and raise during the last two rounds of betting is set at the higher limit of the stakes structure. For example, in a $3/$6 game, all bets and raises are $6 for the last two rounds (fourth card and the river)
Each player is dealt two cards, one face down and then one face up. That first card will be your only card that is face down. On this first round of betting, the low card by suit is required to initiate action with a bet equal to half the lower limit (bring-in). Suits are ranked: spades (highest), hearts, diamonds, clubs. On subsequent rounds, the high hand on board initiates betting action, again, just like 7 Card Stud.
Then, each player receives one more card face down and the second round of betting begins. Each bet and raise during the first two rounds of betting is set at the lower limit of the stakes structure. For example, in a $3/$6 game, all bets and raises are $3 for the first two rounds. The exception to this rule is if any player displays a pair with their 2 face-up cards after the third street is dealt. In this circumstance, all players have the option to bet either the lower limit or the higher limit. If a player bets the higher limit, then all subsequent raises must be made at the higher limit. (This is true of 7 Card Stud as well.)
The fourth card is dealt face down, and our third round of betting begins, and then our fifth and final card is dealt face down, and the fourth and final round of betting begins. Each bet and raise during the last two rounds of betting is set at the higher limit of the stakes structure. For example, in a $3/$6 game, all bets and raises are $6 for the last two rounds (fourth card and the river)
Poker Rules:Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better
Much like 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better, in this version of Omaha, the high hand and the qualifying low hand split the pot. A low hand must be five unpaired cards (with the highest card no greater than an 8).
A, 2, 3, 4, 5 is the best low hand (as straights and flushes do not apply to low hands).
In order to win the low hand, players must have 5 un-paired cards with the highest card of eight or below, otherwise the poker hand does not qualify for the low hand, and the high hand wins the entire pot. And, it's possible to win both the high hand and low hand, winning the entire pot.
That completes the rules of the standard online poker games offered by most or all of the online poker rooms.
A, 2, 3, 4, 5 is the best low hand (as straights and flushes do not apply to low hands).
In order to win the low hand, players must have 5 un-paired cards with the highest card of eight or below, otherwise the poker hand does not qualify for the low hand, and the high hand wins the entire pot. And, it's possible to win both the high hand and low hand, winning the entire pot.
That completes the rules of the standard online poker games offered by most or all of the online poker rooms.
Poker Rules:Omaha
Omaha is another popular poker game offered by the online poker rooms. Omaha is a form of Texas Hold'em, and so the rules of Omaha are very similar to Texas Hold'em rules. Like Texas Hold'em, the game is commonly played at a 9 or 10-handed table, and the betting and blinds structures are exactly the same. So what's the difference? Each player starts with FOUR hole cards instead of two!
So, pre-flop, each player is dealt 4 cards face-down, and must then decide to call the bet and play their cards. Just like Texas Hold'em, the dealer then places five cards face-up in the center of the table - first the flop which is 3 cards, round of betting, the turn card, round of betting, and the river card, and the final round of betting. Like Texas Hold'em, these community cards are part of each player's hand.
The next major difference in the rules between Omaha and Texas Hold'em is that each player forms a five-card hand by using only two and exactly two of his four hole cards together with only three and exactly three of the five community cards. Many more winning combinations are possible than in Texas Hold'em as you can guess.
Even though Omaha's rules are very similar to Texas Hold'em rules, the strategies are completely different. Just because you can play Texas Hold'em with the big boys, does not mean you can instantly transition that game to Omaha. If you're dealt a 4-of-a-kind in Omaha, it's a bad thing! You can only use two of those four cards, and you will not be able to make trips with them!
Omaha, like Texas Hold'em and 7 Card Stud, is a common game among the online poker rooms. And its variant, Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better, is also a common online poker game offered by most if not all the online poker rooms for free or real money.
So, pre-flop, each player is dealt 4 cards face-down, and must then decide to call the bet and play their cards. Just like Texas Hold'em, the dealer then places five cards face-up in the center of the table - first the flop which is 3 cards, round of betting, the turn card, round of betting, and the river card, and the final round of betting. Like Texas Hold'em, these community cards are part of each player's hand.
The next major difference in the rules between Omaha and Texas Hold'em is that each player forms a five-card hand by using only two and exactly two of his four hole cards together with only three and exactly three of the five community cards. Many more winning combinations are possible than in Texas Hold'em as you can guess.
Even though Omaha's rules are very similar to Texas Hold'em rules, the strategies are completely different. Just because you can play Texas Hold'em with the big boys, does not mean you can instantly transition that game to Omaha. If you're dealt a 4-of-a-kind in Omaha, it's a bad thing! You can only use two of those four cards, and you will not be able to make trips with them!
Omaha, like Texas Hold'em and 7 Card Stud, is a common game among the online poker rooms. And its variant, Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better, is also a common online poker game offered by most if not all the online poker rooms for free or real money.
Poker Rules:7 Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better
7 Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better is also offered for free in most of the online poker rooms as well. The rules of 7 Card stud Hi Lo 8 or Better is very similar to the rules of the standard 7 Card Stud poker game. The only difference is that the pot is split between the high hand hand and the low hand (if one qualifies).
The rules to qualify for the low hand are this - a low hand must be five unpaired cards, with the highest card no greater than an 8.
A, 2, 3, 4, 5 is the best low hand (as straights and flushes do not apply to low hands).
In order to win the low hand, players must have 5 un-paired cards with the highest card of eight or below, otherwise the poker hand does not qualify for the low hand.
The winning low hand (8 or better) is first decided by the player with the lowest high card. Upon a tie with the high card, the hand goes to the player with the next lowest high card. If two highest cards are tied, then you move on to the third highest card etc. Any hand of 5 cards that contains card values of 9 or higher CANNOT qualify as a low hand.
If there is no qualifying low hand, then the high hand wins the entire pot.
At the showing of hands (showdown),each player can use any five of their cards for their high hand and any five of their cards for their low hand. The best low hand is A, 2, 3, 4, 5. This will also count as a straight for high. Aces can be used for both high and low. Straights and flushes are not considered when evaluating a low hand. A player can "scoop" (win the entire pot) by showing the highest and lowest hands.
The rules to qualify for the low hand are this - a low hand must be five unpaired cards, with the highest card no greater than an 8.
A, 2, 3, 4, 5 is the best low hand (as straights and flushes do not apply to low hands).
In order to win the low hand, players must have 5 un-paired cards with the highest card of eight or below, otherwise the poker hand does not qualify for the low hand.
The winning low hand (8 or better) is first decided by the player with the lowest high card. Upon a tie with the high card, the hand goes to the player with the next lowest high card. If two highest cards are tied, then you move on to the third highest card etc. Any hand of 5 cards that contains card values of 9 or higher CANNOT qualify as a low hand.
If there is no qualifying low hand, then the high hand wins the entire pot.
At the showing of hands (showdown),each player can use any five of their cards for their high hand and any five of their cards for their low hand. The best low hand is A, 2, 3, 4, 5. This will also count as a straight for high. Aces can be used for both high and low. Straights and flushes are not considered when evaluating a low hand. A player can "scoop" (win the entire pot) by showing the highest and lowest hands.
Poker Rules: 7 Card Stud
7 Card Stud is probably the second most popular of the online poker games, and all the online poker rooms also offer 7 Card Stud, both for free and for real money. In fact, most of the online poker rooms offer two variations of the game - 7 Card Stud and 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better. We'll first discuss the rules of 7 Card Stud.
The rules of 7 Card Stud are quite different from Texas Holde'm. Unlike Texas Hold'em, where you can look at your two hole cards before determining whether you want to put any money into the pot, in 7 Card Stud, all players must first ante before they receive their initial cards. Texas Hold'em uses the blind structure whereas 7 Card Stud uses ante's. There are five betting rounds in a complete game of 7 Card Stud Poker, not including Ante.
After the ante, Each player is dealt two cards face-down (hole cards) and one card face-up (door card).
The action is started by forcing the lowest upcard by rank and suit to bet the amount that corresponds to the bring-in for each limit. The action then rotates clockwise and players must either call the minimum bet forced by the low card, or make the first raise, which only completes the bet to the lower value of the limit structure. For example, if you were playing a $3-6 7 Card Stud game, every player may have to ante $.50, and the low card by rank and then by suit is required to initiate action with a minimum small bring-in bet, which may be $1.00. Raises thereafter are of the exact amounts of the fixed limits for each betting round in a game of 7 card stud poker - in this case, the raise would be $2, and all subsequent raises would be the full $3 bet.
According to the rules of 7 Card Stud, on the first round of betting, Suits are ranked: spades (highest), hearts, diamonds, clubs. This helps determine the low card who must make the bring-in bet. You can easily remember this order because it's alphabetical! On subsequent rounds, the high hand on board initiates betting action. If hands are tied, the player to the left of the dealer acts first.
After the first round of betting is completed, each player is dealt one card face-up. This is commonly called 4th street. The second round of betting begins, starting with the highest hand showing, and the bets are still $3 in our example.
Each player is dealt another card face-up (5th street), and at this point the limit is raised to the higher limit amount and bets are now $6 in our example. Third round of betting.
Each player is dealt another card face-up. This is commonly called 6th street, and we have our fourth round of betting.
Finally, the seventh card is dealt, also known as the river card, but this one is dealt face-down. The fifth and final round of betting begins. Players then show their hand, "the showdown", and use any 5 of their 7 cards to make their best possible poker hand. Those are the basic poker rules of 7 Card Stud.
The rules of 7 Card Stud are quite different from Texas Holde'm. Unlike Texas Hold'em, where you can look at your two hole cards before determining whether you want to put any money into the pot, in 7 Card Stud, all players must first ante before they receive their initial cards. Texas Hold'em uses the blind structure whereas 7 Card Stud uses ante's. There are five betting rounds in a complete game of 7 Card Stud Poker, not including Ante.
After the ante, Each player is dealt two cards face-down (hole cards) and one card face-up (door card).
The action is started by forcing the lowest upcard by rank and suit to bet the amount that corresponds to the bring-in for each limit. The action then rotates clockwise and players must either call the minimum bet forced by the low card, or make the first raise, which only completes the bet to the lower value of the limit structure. For example, if you were playing a $3-6 7 Card Stud game, every player may have to ante $.50, and the low card by rank and then by suit is required to initiate action with a minimum small bring-in bet, which may be $1.00. Raises thereafter are of the exact amounts of the fixed limits for each betting round in a game of 7 card stud poker - in this case, the raise would be $2, and all subsequent raises would be the full $3 bet.
According to the rules of 7 Card Stud, on the first round of betting, Suits are ranked: spades (highest), hearts, diamonds, clubs. This helps determine the low card who must make the bring-in bet. You can easily remember this order because it's alphabetical! On subsequent rounds, the high hand on board initiates betting action. If hands are tied, the player to the left of the dealer acts first.
After the first round of betting is completed, each player is dealt one card face-up. This is commonly called 4th street. The second round of betting begins, starting with the highest hand showing, and the bets are still $3 in our example.
Each player is dealt another card face-up (5th street), and at this point the limit is raised to the higher limit amount and bets are now $6 in our example. Third round of betting.
Each player is dealt another card face-up. This is commonly called 6th street, and we have our fourth round of betting.
Finally, the seventh card is dealt, also known as the river card, but this one is dealt face-down. The fifth and final round of betting begins. Players then show their hand, "the showdown", and use any 5 of their 7 cards to make their best possible poker hand. Those are the basic poker rules of 7 Card Stud.
Poker Rules: Texas Holdem
The first set of poker rules that needs to be discussed is, of course, the Cadillac of Poker Games, Texas Holdem. Texas Holdem is the game that the World Poker Tour and the World Series of Poker focus on, particularly the No-Limit variance of Texas Holdem. Texas Holdem is, by far, the most popular of the online poker games.
The rules for Texas Holdem are quite simple. The game goes like this: the dealer button is established - this player does not actually deal, but he will be the last player to act on three of the four betting rounds. This is the best position to be in because you get to act last for most of the game, meaning that you have the opportunity to see how all the players will act before it is your turn, which is vital information. To the left of the dealer is the "small blind", this player must post half the amount of the blind - which is a dollar amount depending on the stakes of the table. To the left of the small blind is the "big blind", who must post the full blind dollar amount. For example, if you are playing $1-2 limit Texas Holdem game, the small blind must put down $.50 and the big blind must place $1.00 on the table before anything happens. This is how the poker game starts.
Now, once the blinds are established, each player is dealt two cards face down. These are referred to as your "hole cards". You can view your cards and then determine if you want to play. The action rotates around the table, this first starts with the player to the left of the big blind, this position is often referred to as UTG for "Under the Gun". This player decides whether he wants to play his hand, and if so, must match or raise the big blind amount. In our example of a $1-2 game, the player must place a bet of $1.00 or more to stay in the game, or fold his cards. The action continues around the table, to the dealer, the small blind, and finally, the big blind. The big blind may not have to put anymore money on the table if the pot is not raised, since he already has a $1.00 put in. This is the first round of betting, and the only round of betting where the big blind position is last to act. All subsequent betting rounds ends with the player on the dealer button. If this is a $1-2 limit Texas Holdem game, then all bets or raises on this round are $1.
After this initial round of betting, three cards are placed on the board, at the same time, face-up. This is called the "Flop". The second round of betting ensues, starting with the small blind position and ending with the dealer position. Again the bets on this round would be $1 in a $1-2 holdem game.
After the betting on the flop, the "Turn" card is dealt on the board. Now there are 4 cards on the board and two in your hand. The third round of betting begins, again starting with the small blind position and ending with the dealer position. Now, if you are playing a $1-2 limit Texas Holdem game, this is when the big bet, $2, kicks in. From here on out, all bets or raises are always exactly $2.
Finally, the fifth and final card is dealt on the board, the "River" card, and the fourth and final round of betting ensues. At the end of the betting, the players will show their two hole cards, and the best 5 of the possible 7 cards determines the winner. The rules dictate that you may choose to use one, both, or none of you hole cards, whichever makes you the best poker hand.
Those are the rules of Texas Holdem in a nut shell. There are three types of Texas Holdem games which have slightly different betting rules:
Limit Texas Holdem (there is a specific betting limit applied in each game)
Pot Limit Texas Holdem (A player can bet what is in the pot)
No Limit Texas Holdem (A player can bet all of his/her chips at any time)
The rules for Texas Holdem are quite simple. The game goes like this: the dealer button is established - this player does not actually deal, but he will be the last player to act on three of the four betting rounds. This is the best position to be in because you get to act last for most of the game, meaning that you have the opportunity to see how all the players will act before it is your turn, which is vital information. To the left of the dealer is the "small blind", this player must post half the amount of the blind - which is a dollar amount depending on the stakes of the table. To the left of the small blind is the "big blind", who must post the full blind dollar amount. For example, if you are playing $1-2 limit Texas Holdem game, the small blind must put down $.50 and the big blind must place $1.00 on the table before anything happens. This is how the poker game starts.
Now, once the blinds are established, each player is dealt two cards face down. These are referred to as your "hole cards". You can view your cards and then determine if you want to play. The action rotates around the table, this first starts with the player to the left of the big blind, this position is often referred to as UTG for "Under the Gun". This player decides whether he wants to play his hand, and if so, must match or raise the big blind amount. In our example of a $1-2 game, the player must place a bet of $1.00 or more to stay in the game, or fold his cards. The action continues around the table, to the dealer, the small blind, and finally, the big blind. The big blind may not have to put anymore money on the table if the pot is not raised, since he already has a $1.00 put in. This is the first round of betting, and the only round of betting where the big blind position is last to act. All subsequent betting rounds ends with the player on the dealer button. If this is a $1-2 limit Texas Holdem game, then all bets or raises on this round are $1.
After this initial round of betting, three cards are placed on the board, at the same time, face-up. This is called the "Flop". The second round of betting ensues, starting with the small blind position and ending with the dealer position. Again the bets on this round would be $1 in a $1-2 holdem game.
After the betting on the flop, the "Turn" card is dealt on the board. Now there are 4 cards on the board and two in your hand. The third round of betting begins, again starting with the small blind position and ending with the dealer position. Now, if you are playing a $1-2 limit Texas Holdem game, this is when the big bet, $2, kicks in. From here on out, all bets or raises are always exactly $2.
Finally, the fifth and final card is dealt on the board, the "River" card, and the fourth and final round of betting ensues. At the end of the betting, the players will show their two hole cards, and the best 5 of the possible 7 cards determines the winner. The rules dictate that you may choose to use one, both, or none of you hole cards, whichever makes you the best poker hand.
Those are the rules of Texas Holdem in a nut shell. There are three types of Texas Holdem games which have slightly different betting rules:
Limit Texas Holdem (there is a specific betting limit applied in each game)
Pot Limit Texas Holdem (A player can bet what is in the pot)
No Limit Texas Holdem (A player can bet all of his/her chips at any time)
Texas Holdem Poker Lingo:
If you are new to the poker world, I advise that you read our "Poker Lingo" glossary. Poker has its own terminology, and reviewing our glossary will help you understand the articles and essays on this site.
Getting Started with Poker Lingo:
Bad Beat - this refers to losing a hand when you were the strong odds favorite to win. ie - an example of a bad beat would be holding pocket Aces against a player holding pocket 2's, and your opponent ends up beating you by hitting another 2 on the last card. Visit the Play-By-Play Examples to view an example of a bad beat.
Belly-Buster - This is also known as an inside straight draw or gut shot. See "Gut Shot".
Big Slick - refers to holding an Ace and King as your two private (pocket) cards.
Big "Chick" - Refers to holding an Ace and Queen as your two pocket cards.
Blinds - Texas Holdem Poker uses what's called a "blind" structure, meaning that two people on the table must post a bet prior to seeing their cards. Since they are forced to bet without seeing their cards, they are playing "blind", thus the name of those bets are called "blinds". There are two blinds, the big blind and the small blind. The small blind position must post half the minimum bet and sits immediately to the left of the dealer. The big blind must post the full minimum bet, and sits immediately to the left of the small blind, two seats to the left of the dealer. As the deal rotates around the table, each player takes turns posting the small blind and the big blind bets. This blind structure forces the action on the table since there will always be a pot to win. So, for example, if you are seated at a $1-2 limit holdem table, the small blind must post $.50 and the big blind must post $1 bet. As play rotates around the table, each player may choose to call that $1 bet, raise, or fold. When it's the small blind's turn, that player only needs to call $.50 to play the hand.
Board - The board refers to the community cards that are dealt face up on the table. In Texas Holdem, there will ultimately be five community cards on the "board". The board does NOT include the two private card dealt to each player. So, if someone were to say, "the board plays", the player means that the five community cards make his best poker hand and he is not using any of the two private cards dealt to the player.
Button - Also called the "Dealer Button", this is a white puck (usually with the word "Dealer" on it), that signifies the dealer's position on the table. The dealer's position is significant because he is the last player to act for that hand. The Dealer Button rotates around the table, so each player takes turns being "on the button".
Check-raise - the act of checking a hand, in hopes of luring your opponent to bet, so that you may then raise over him and build a bigger pot to win.
Flop - In Texas Holdem, each player has two cards dealt to them, and then share five community cards. These five community cards, however, do not all get dealt at the same time. There are rounds of betting at certain intervals during the deal. After the first two cards are dealt to each player, there is a round of betting. Then, three of the five community cards are dealt at one time on the board. This is what's known as the "flop" - the first three cards being dealt on the board. The fourth card is called the "turn", and the final, fifth card is known as the "river".
Flush Draw - a hand where you have 4 of the 5 cards needed to make a flush. For example, if you are holding two clubs, and the board flops two more clubs, you would be holding a flush draw. You would need to draw an additional club to complete the flush.
Gut Shot - a hand where you have 4 of the 5 cards needed to make a straight, but your 4 cards are not "connected" or in sequential order, so you need a single card in the middle of your straight to complete the straight. ie - you are holding 5 6, and the board shows 7, 9, 10. At that moment, you have a gut shot, only the 8 will make your straight. This type of hand is also known as an "inside straight draw" or a "belly-buster straight draw".
Inside Straight Draw - Also known as a belly-buster straight draw gut shot straight draw. See "Gut Shot".
Kicker - the kicker refers to your tie-breaking card. For example, if I am holding an Ace and King, and the board shows Ace, 5, 8, 2, 6 - I would have a pair of Aces with a King kicker. My opponent may have an Ace also, but with a weaker kicker, in which case I will win the showdown.
Implied Odds - Implied Odds refers to the odds or percentage of making your winning hand compared to the odds or percentage of the bet you must call compared to the POTENTIAL size of the pot. For a more detailed explanation, please review the Post-flop Strategy - Pot Odds Essay.
Limp - to limp into the hand refers to calling the minimal bet, the big blind, to play your hand.
Maniac - A maniac is a player who plays ultra-aggressively, making big bets on poor cards, throwing his money around in the hopes of winning by bluffing and intimidation. A maniac can be a difficult player to play against, but may also be a big source of profits.
Muck - the act of folding one's hand without showing your cards.
Nuts or Nut Hand - the Nuts or Nut hand is the best possible hand at that particular moment. For example, if I am holding the Ace and Jack of hearts, and the flop brings the 2, 6, 9 of hearts, I would be holding the "nut" hand or just the "nuts" - there is no hand that I can lose to at this momemt. Of course, the nut hand can change as the fourth and fifth cards come out (a straight flush). The highest possible straight or flush is often called the "nut" straight or "nut" flush.
Outs - The number of "outs" refers to the number of cards in the deck to make your winning hand. For example, if I have a flush draw (4 suited cards), I have 9 outs to make my flush since there are a total of 13 cards of each suit.
Pocket Rockets - also known as American Airlines, refers to holding two Aces as your private, pocket cards.
Pot Odds - Pot Odds refers to the odds or percentage of making your winning hand compared to the odds or percentage of the bet you must call compared to the CURRENT size of the pot.
Rake - This is the commission the house takes from every pot. The rake can be set dollar amounts or a percentage of the pot, depending on the casino.
River - The "river" is the dealing of the fifth and final card of the five community cards dealt in Texas Holdem. The "river" is also known as "Fifth Street". The river card is the fifth and final card on the board. See "Flop".
Semi-bluff - The act of betting on your hand when your hand is not made yet. ie - you have four cards to a straight or flush and you make a bet or raise a bet - even though you do not have a strong hand now, you have a chance of bluffing your opponent out of the pot or hitting the card that will complete your winning hand.
Ship It - - Same as "send it." Phrase exclaimed by the winner of a big pot. Most often exclaimed via the chat box of an online poker game. Has sarcastic, obnoxious overtones and could infuriate your opponent!
Short-handed - A short-handed game refers to a table that has few opponents. A table of 2-6 players (as opposed to a full table of 10) would be considered a short-handed game.
Slow-play - The act of intentionally under-playing a very strong hand in the hopes of tricking your opponent into thinking that he has you beat, which leads to your opponent betting more in later rounds. ie - holding pocket Aces and just checking or calling on the first round of betting to show weakness, in hopes of luring your opponent into more aggressive play later and a larger pot.
Smooth Call - A smooth call is the act of just calling a bet or raise with a very powerful hand in order to conceal your strength and keep all the attention on the initial raiser.
Stone Cold Bluff - This is the act of betting your hand with no real possibility of winning the hand if your bet is called. Unlike the semi-bluff, where you still have the potential to make a winning a hand, the stone cold bluff is not relying on the cards, but on your opponent folding.
Suited Connectors - Holding two cards that are of the same suit and sequentially ordered. ie - 8, 9 of spades.
Tilt - This terms refers to a player who is angry, upset, or emotionally unstable, impacting his poker game in a negative manner. For example, a player who just suffered a "bad beat" may go on "tilt". A player on tilt will often play erratically and more aggressively than his usual tendency.
Trips - Also known as a three-of-a-kind.
Turn - The "turn" is the dealing of the fourth card of five community cards dealt in the game of Texas Holdem. The "turn" is also referred to as "Fourth Street". The turn card would be the fourth card on the board. See "Flop".
Getting Started with Poker Lingo:
Bad Beat - this refers to losing a hand when you were the strong odds favorite to win. ie - an example of a bad beat would be holding pocket Aces against a player holding pocket 2's, and your opponent ends up beating you by hitting another 2 on the last card. Visit the Play-By-Play Examples to view an example of a bad beat.
Belly-Buster - This is also known as an inside straight draw or gut shot. See "Gut Shot".
Big Slick - refers to holding an Ace and King as your two private (pocket) cards.
Big "Chick" - Refers to holding an Ace and Queen as your two pocket cards.
Blinds - Texas Holdem Poker uses what's called a "blind" structure, meaning that two people on the table must post a bet prior to seeing their cards. Since they are forced to bet without seeing their cards, they are playing "blind", thus the name of those bets are called "blinds". There are two blinds, the big blind and the small blind. The small blind position must post half the minimum bet and sits immediately to the left of the dealer. The big blind must post the full minimum bet, and sits immediately to the left of the small blind, two seats to the left of the dealer. As the deal rotates around the table, each player takes turns posting the small blind and the big blind bets. This blind structure forces the action on the table since there will always be a pot to win. So, for example, if you are seated at a $1-2 limit holdem table, the small blind must post $.50 and the big blind must post $1 bet. As play rotates around the table, each player may choose to call that $1 bet, raise, or fold. When it's the small blind's turn, that player only needs to call $.50 to play the hand.
Board - The board refers to the community cards that are dealt face up on the table. In Texas Holdem, there will ultimately be five community cards on the "board". The board does NOT include the two private card dealt to each player. So, if someone were to say, "the board plays", the player means that the five community cards make his best poker hand and he is not using any of the two private cards dealt to the player.
Button - Also called the "Dealer Button", this is a white puck (usually with the word "Dealer" on it), that signifies the dealer's position on the table. The dealer's position is significant because he is the last player to act for that hand. The Dealer Button rotates around the table, so each player takes turns being "on the button".
Check-raise - the act of checking a hand, in hopes of luring your opponent to bet, so that you may then raise over him and build a bigger pot to win.
Flop - In Texas Holdem, each player has two cards dealt to them, and then share five community cards. These five community cards, however, do not all get dealt at the same time. There are rounds of betting at certain intervals during the deal. After the first two cards are dealt to each player, there is a round of betting. Then, three of the five community cards are dealt at one time on the board. This is what's known as the "flop" - the first three cards being dealt on the board. The fourth card is called the "turn", and the final, fifth card is known as the "river".
Flush Draw - a hand where you have 4 of the 5 cards needed to make a flush. For example, if you are holding two clubs, and the board flops two more clubs, you would be holding a flush draw. You would need to draw an additional club to complete the flush.
Gut Shot - a hand where you have 4 of the 5 cards needed to make a straight, but your 4 cards are not "connected" or in sequential order, so you need a single card in the middle of your straight to complete the straight. ie - you are holding 5 6, and the board shows 7, 9, 10. At that moment, you have a gut shot, only the 8 will make your straight. This type of hand is also known as an "inside straight draw" or a "belly-buster straight draw".
Inside Straight Draw - Also known as a belly-buster straight draw gut shot straight draw. See "Gut Shot".
Kicker - the kicker refers to your tie-breaking card. For example, if I am holding an Ace and King, and the board shows Ace, 5, 8, 2, 6 - I would have a pair of Aces with a King kicker. My opponent may have an Ace also, but with a weaker kicker, in which case I will win the showdown.
Implied Odds - Implied Odds refers to the odds or percentage of making your winning hand compared to the odds or percentage of the bet you must call compared to the POTENTIAL size of the pot. For a more detailed explanation, please review the Post-flop Strategy - Pot Odds Essay.
Limp - to limp into the hand refers to calling the minimal bet, the big blind, to play your hand.
Maniac - A maniac is a player who plays ultra-aggressively, making big bets on poor cards, throwing his money around in the hopes of winning by bluffing and intimidation. A maniac can be a difficult player to play against, but may also be a big source of profits.
Muck - the act of folding one's hand without showing your cards.
Nuts or Nut Hand - the Nuts or Nut hand is the best possible hand at that particular moment. For example, if I am holding the Ace and Jack of hearts, and the flop brings the 2, 6, 9 of hearts, I would be holding the "nut" hand or just the "nuts" - there is no hand that I can lose to at this momemt. Of course, the nut hand can change as the fourth and fifth cards come out (a straight flush). The highest possible straight or flush is often called the "nut" straight or "nut" flush.
Outs - The number of "outs" refers to the number of cards in the deck to make your winning hand. For example, if I have a flush draw (4 suited cards), I have 9 outs to make my flush since there are a total of 13 cards of each suit.
Pocket Rockets - also known as American Airlines, refers to holding two Aces as your private, pocket cards.
Pot Odds - Pot Odds refers to the odds or percentage of making your winning hand compared to the odds or percentage of the bet you must call compared to the CURRENT size of the pot.
Rake - This is the commission the house takes from every pot. The rake can be set dollar amounts or a percentage of the pot, depending on the casino.
River - The "river" is the dealing of the fifth and final card of the five community cards dealt in Texas Holdem. The "river" is also known as "Fifth Street". The river card is the fifth and final card on the board. See "Flop".
Semi-bluff - The act of betting on your hand when your hand is not made yet. ie - you have four cards to a straight or flush and you make a bet or raise a bet - even though you do not have a strong hand now, you have a chance of bluffing your opponent out of the pot or hitting the card that will complete your winning hand.
Ship It - - Same as "send it." Phrase exclaimed by the winner of a big pot. Most often exclaimed via the chat box of an online poker game. Has sarcastic, obnoxious overtones and could infuriate your opponent!
Short-handed - A short-handed game refers to a table that has few opponents. A table of 2-6 players (as opposed to a full table of 10) would be considered a short-handed game.
Slow-play - The act of intentionally under-playing a very strong hand in the hopes of tricking your opponent into thinking that he has you beat, which leads to your opponent betting more in later rounds. ie - holding pocket Aces and just checking or calling on the first round of betting to show weakness, in hopes of luring your opponent into more aggressive play later and a larger pot.
Smooth Call - A smooth call is the act of just calling a bet or raise with a very powerful hand in order to conceal your strength and keep all the attention on the initial raiser.
Stone Cold Bluff - This is the act of betting your hand with no real possibility of winning the hand if your bet is called. Unlike the semi-bluff, where you still have the potential to make a winning a hand, the stone cold bluff is not relying on the cards, but on your opponent folding.
Suited Connectors - Holding two cards that are of the same suit and sequentially ordered. ie - 8, 9 of spades.
Tilt - This terms refers to a player who is angry, upset, or emotionally unstable, impacting his poker game in a negative manner. For example, a player who just suffered a "bad beat" may go on "tilt". A player on tilt will often play erratically and more aggressively than his usual tendency.
Trips - Also known as a three-of-a-kind.
Turn - The "turn" is the dealing of the fourth card of five community cards dealt in the game of Texas Holdem. The "turn" is also referred to as "Fourth Street". The turn card would be the fourth card on the board. See "Flop".
Online Poker Industry: A Brief History
Online poker has been the fastest growing segment of the online gambling industry over the last year and a half (middle of 2003 to 2005). The internet/online poker boom has been phenomenal, and all trends point to further growth. According to some sources, the online poker industry has grown by a rate of 600% in the last year! Online poker has seen its greatest expansion coming from the United States, but there is huge potential for further online poker growth in Europe and the rest of the world.
Online poker is still relatively new, starting in 1998 but really hitting the online industry big in 2002. The first online poker room was Planet Poker, launched in 1998. Paradise Poker, was the next major player, launched in 1999 and is still one of the leading online poker rooms. Paradise Poker, with their ad campaigns, excellent software, and international audience, really took online poker to the next level. Paradise Poker was the first online poker room I played at, and I still frequent the room. In 2001, the other major online poker rooms appeared - PartyPoker, PokerStars, and UltimateBet.
Online poker exploded in 2003 when poker hit mainstream television in the US. The World Poker Tour debuted on the Travel Channel in March of 2003, and became the highest rating show in Travel Channel's history. The World Series of Poker also received a lot of coverage from ESPN. In 2003, over 800 players participated in the No Limit Hold'em main event at the World Series of Poker, the largest turn out ever, and internet play contributed to this record. That record would soon be broken with the World Series of Poker in 2004, when 2,600 players competed for the grand prize of $5 million. It is estimated that almost half of the entrants qualified to the tournament via online poker satellite tournaments! In 2005, this record would again get demolished with almost 6,000 entrants into the WSOP! Both the 2003 and 2004 World Series of Poker champions were online poker players from PokerStars - Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer. These results helped boost and legitimize online poker and online poker players.
Hollywood became enamored with poker and poker's popularity sky-rocketed, and so did online poker. In addition to the World Series of Poker coverage expanding in 2003 and 2004, and the World Poker Tour turning poker into a new national pastime, Celebrity Poker on Bravo, Late Night Poker, Poker SuperStars Tournament, Heads-Up Challenge, and a slew of aired tournaments all hit the airwaves in 2004 and 2005.
Most of the major poker professionals have accepted and adopted the online poker medium. These top professionals now endorse online poker rooms and actually play in the online poker rooms. Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Erik Seidel, John Juanda, Phil Gordon, Andy Bloch, and Erick Lindgren endorse Full Tilt Poker, Gus Hansen recently opened his own online poker room with PokerChamps, Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke, Antonio Esfandiari, and David "Devilfish" Ulliot endorse UltimateBet, Mike Sexton and Shana Hiatt are spokespeople for PartyPoker, Doyle Brunson opened up his own online poker room franchise with Doyle's Room, and the list goes on. HollywoodPoker.com and CelebPoker.com both entered the online poker industry cementing the ties between Hollywood and poker.
Today, driven largely by the US, online poker is close to a $2 billion industry. The online poker leader is PartyPoker, which commands almost half of the entire online poker industry. However, there is plenty of action to be had at many of the online poker rooms, since the influx of new online poker players continues to increase. The number of real money online poker players is increasing by as much as 100,000 each month.
Online poker is real, honest, and a lot of fun. The poker rooms are audited by major international accounting firms (like Price Waterhouse Coopers, for example), they are becoming publicly traded billion dollar companies (PartyGaming), and the industry does not appear to be slowing down, with more online poker rooms entering the industry and more online poker rooms planning on initial public offerings.
One of the concerns regarding online poker is its legality. In the United States, the legality of online poker is still very unclear. I, personally, was playing with friends at a Starbucks by the beach. Police officers walked in and watched us play. I asked them point blank if what I was doing was legal. The police officers responded with - "Of course it's legal, poker is legal in California." Then, I heard the President of the United States announce that online poker was illegal throughout the entire United States. And then, the World Trade Organization overruled President Bush's declaration...
What I do know is that MOST online poker players are living in the United States. I know the last two World Series of Champions were online poker players. So, I'm not worrying about it. Online poker is a great way to practice your poker skills, whether for play money or real money, and gain valuable poker experience. You can play single table tournaments, huge, multi-table tournaments, and ring/cash games at all different stakes. The experience is invaluable, and a lot of fun!
Online poker is still relatively new, starting in 1998 but really hitting the online industry big in 2002. The first online poker room was Planet Poker, launched in 1998. Paradise Poker, was the next major player, launched in 1999 and is still one of the leading online poker rooms. Paradise Poker, with their ad campaigns, excellent software, and international audience, really took online poker to the next level. Paradise Poker was the first online poker room I played at, and I still frequent the room. In 2001, the other major online poker rooms appeared - PartyPoker, PokerStars, and UltimateBet.
Online poker exploded in 2003 when poker hit mainstream television in the US. The World Poker Tour debuted on the Travel Channel in March of 2003, and became the highest rating show in Travel Channel's history. The World Series of Poker also received a lot of coverage from ESPN. In 2003, over 800 players participated in the No Limit Hold'em main event at the World Series of Poker, the largest turn out ever, and internet play contributed to this record. That record would soon be broken with the World Series of Poker in 2004, when 2,600 players competed for the grand prize of $5 million. It is estimated that almost half of the entrants qualified to the tournament via online poker satellite tournaments! In 2005, this record would again get demolished with almost 6,000 entrants into the WSOP! Both the 2003 and 2004 World Series of Poker champions were online poker players from PokerStars - Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer. These results helped boost and legitimize online poker and online poker players.
Hollywood became enamored with poker and poker's popularity sky-rocketed, and so did online poker. In addition to the World Series of Poker coverage expanding in 2003 and 2004, and the World Poker Tour turning poker into a new national pastime, Celebrity Poker on Bravo, Late Night Poker, Poker SuperStars Tournament, Heads-Up Challenge, and a slew of aired tournaments all hit the airwaves in 2004 and 2005.
Most of the major poker professionals have accepted and adopted the online poker medium. These top professionals now endorse online poker rooms and actually play in the online poker rooms. Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Erik Seidel, John Juanda, Phil Gordon, Andy Bloch, and Erick Lindgren endorse Full Tilt Poker, Gus Hansen recently opened his own online poker room with PokerChamps, Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke, Antonio Esfandiari, and David "Devilfish" Ulliot endorse UltimateBet, Mike Sexton and Shana Hiatt are spokespeople for PartyPoker, Doyle Brunson opened up his own online poker room franchise with Doyle's Room, and the list goes on. HollywoodPoker.com and CelebPoker.com both entered the online poker industry cementing the ties between Hollywood and poker.
Today, driven largely by the US, online poker is close to a $2 billion industry. The online poker leader is PartyPoker, which commands almost half of the entire online poker industry. However, there is plenty of action to be had at many of the online poker rooms, since the influx of new online poker players continues to increase. The number of real money online poker players is increasing by as much as 100,000 each month.
Online poker is real, honest, and a lot of fun. The poker rooms are audited by major international accounting firms (like Price Waterhouse Coopers, for example), they are becoming publicly traded billion dollar companies (PartyGaming), and the industry does not appear to be slowing down, with more online poker rooms entering the industry and more online poker rooms planning on initial public offerings.
One of the concerns regarding online poker is its legality. In the United States, the legality of online poker is still very unclear. I, personally, was playing with friends at a Starbucks by the beach. Police officers walked in and watched us play. I asked them point blank if what I was doing was legal. The police officers responded with - "Of course it's legal, poker is legal in California." Then, I heard the President of the United States announce that online poker was illegal throughout the entire United States. And then, the World Trade Organization overruled President Bush's declaration...
What I do know is that MOST online poker players are living in the United States. I know the last two World Series of Champions were online poker players. So, I'm not worrying about it. Online poker is a great way to practice your poker skills, whether for play money or real money, and gain valuable poker experience. You can play single table tournaments, huge, multi-table tournaments, and ring/cash games at all different stakes. The experience is invaluable, and a lot of fun!
Beginner's Guide
Whether you're new to poker, a beginner Texas Holdem player this beginner's section will get you acquainted with all of the above.
I was a little nervous at first, not really knowing what I was getting into... Are these games rigged? Will I get my money back? Can I trust this online poker room to be here tomorrow? Well, after joining and playing at about 20 different online poker rooms, I can honestly tell you that the games are not rigged, you can get your money back at any time, and online poker is absolutely flourishing, so your online poker room will still be dealing hands tomorrow.
Over the next few months, my holdem strategies and tactics continued their development, and the best move I would ever make for my own poker game - I switched to NO LIMIT HOLD'EM! I started playing low-stakes, no limit Texas hold'em tournaments at Paradise Poker and then I moved to the regular low-stakes no limit Texas holdem cash game where I played the $.25-.50 blinds table. Here is where my no limit Texas holdem strategy really started to develop. Then I became a member and played at UltimateBet, PartyPoker, and EmpirePoker, collecting free bonus dollars while developing my no limit game.
Anyway, I'm here to tell you that online poker is a profitable venture. I am making a profit. I am consistently making money at online poker, I have since recovered all the money that I initially invested learning Texas hold'em, and now, I am just adding to my profits. Every month. Every year. In fact, I've recently quit my job ( and am enjoying all the benefits of being a free man - online poker played an important role in that decision.
The poker world also has its own vernacular. Learning the poker lingo will help you understand the articles If you are new to Texas Holdem, be sure to review my Texas Holdem Poker Lingo Glossary!
If you'd like to learn about the basic rules to various online poker games such as 7 Card Stud, Omaha, Razz, and of course, Texas Holdem, review our Poker Rules article. This essay serves as a brief introduction to the rules and gameplay of these online poker variations. And for a discussion of the rules for just Texas Holdem poker,
Texas Holdem actually has some variations within its own game determined by the betting rules - there is Limit Texas Holdem, No-Limit Texas Holdem, and Pot-Limit Texas Holdem. On top of that, most online poker rooms offer ring/cash games in each of these versions, single table tournaments (Sit-N-Go's or SNG's) in each of these versions, and multi-table tournaments (MTT's) in each of these versions. And guess what, one playing style may succeed in one of these scenarios, but not the other. Don't worry, you'll learn all about the intricacies in strategies as you get better acquainted with these games.
I personally play the No-Limit Ring game most predominantly, and certainly favor No-Limit to the Limit variation of holdem. That's not to say that No Limit Texas Holdem is better for everyone, it's just that No Limit Holdem suits me better and I enjoy that version of the poker game much more.
I was a little nervous at first, not really knowing what I was getting into... Are these games rigged? Will I get my money back? Can I trust this online poker room to be here tomorrow? Well, after joining and playing at about 20 different online poker rooms, I can honestly tell you that the games are not rigged, you can get your money back at any time, and online poker is absolutely flourishing, so your online poker room will still be dealing hands tomorrow.
Over the next few months, my holdem strategies and tactics continued their development, and the best move I would ever make for my own poker game - I switched to NO LIMIT HOLD'EM! I started playing low-stakes, no limit Texas hold'em tournaments at Paradise Poker and then I moved to the regular low-stakes no limit Texas holdem cash game where I played the $.25-.50 blinds table. Here is where my no limit Texas holdem strategy really started to develop. Then I became a member and played at UltimateBet, PartyPoker, and EmpirePoker, collecting free bonus dollars while developing my no limit game.
Anyway, I'm here to tell you that online poker is a profitable venture. I am making a profit. I am consistently making money at online poker, I have since recovered all the money that I initially invested learning Texas hold'em, and now, I am just adding to my profits. Every month. Every year. In fact, I've recently quit my job ( and am enjoying all the benefits of being a free man - online poker played an important role in that decision.
The poker world also has its own vernacular. Learning the poker lingo will help you understand the articles If you are new to Texas Holdem, be sure to review my Texas Holdem Poker Lingo Glossary!
If you'd like to learn about the basic rules to various online poker games such as 7 Card Stud, Omaha, Razz, and of course, Texas Holdem, review our Poker Rules article. This essay serves as a brief introduction to the rules and gameplay of these online poker variations. And for a discussion of the rules for just Texas Holdem poker,
Texas Holdem actually has some variations within its own game determined by the betting rules - there is Limit Texas Holdem, No-Limit Texas Holdem, and Pot-Limit Texas Holdem. On top of that, most online poker rooms offer ring/cash games in each of these versions, single table tournaments (Sit-N-Go's or SNG's) in each of these versions, and multi-table tournaments (MTT's) in each of these versions. And guess what, one playing style may succeed in one of these scenarios, but not the other. Don't worry, you'll learn all about the intricacies in strategies as you get better acquainted with these games.
I personally play the No-Limit Ring game most predominantly, and certainly favor No-Limit to the Limit variation of holdem. That's not to say that No Limit Texas Holdem is better for everyone, it's just that No Limit Holdem suits me better and I enjoy that version of the poker game much more.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)